KARACHI: At the 15th hole, it seemed Mohammad Munir had fluffed his chance. A double bogey looked to have hit his chances of getting close to the leaders.

Instead, it sparked a remarkable comeback. Birdies on the next two holes saw Munir stay consistent with his first-round score.

And on a day when both Ahmed Baig and Shabbir Iqbal faltered, Munir ensured there was Pakistani representation close to the top of the leaderboard of the UMA-CNS Open Asian Tour Golf Championship.

Another round of three-under 69 saw Munir end the second day of the first Asian Tour event in the country after 11 years a stroke off the lead.

“I’m glad I found my range on the 16th and 17th holes,” Munir told Dawn after Friday’s second round here at the Karachi Golf Course (KGC).

“I’d been putting well till the 15th hole but I got into a sticky situation there. Thankfully I wasn’t affected by that and finished strongly.”

Munir was tied with Thailand’s Pawin Ingkhapradit (70), whose compatriots Jakraphan Premsirigorn, Suradit Yongcharoenchai and Namchok Tantipokhakul are in a three-way tie atop the leaderboard.

Jakraphan, who was hampered by a wrist injury, shot a 68 for a seven-under 137 total.

“It feels great to be in this position, especially so after coming back from my wrist injury,” he said. “I was out for four months after getting my Tour card. I missed all my cuts this year because I wasn’t ready, but now I’m 80, or even 100 per cent.”

Suradit, the highest-ranked golfer at the event, also carded a 68 while Namchok, who was tied with Ahmed for the lead after the first round, returned with a 70.

“I feel really good since I played better than yesterday,” Suradit, who is 546th on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), told Dawn. “I’ll try to keep playing my natural game and I believe I have a good chance of winning my first [Asian Tour] title.”

Three strokes off the lead is another Thai, Tirawat Kawesiribandit who shot a 69.

Ahmed had shown great nerve to emerge as a joint-leader in the first round. But it seemed to desert him just when he needed it the most.

On his way to a par score after three birdies and three bogeys on a topsy-turvy day, a double bogey on the 17th hole saw him finish with a 74 and in a group of eight players four shots off the lead.

That group also included Pakistan’s top golfer Shabbir.

Starting the day a stroke behind the leaders, Shabbir’s hopes of catching up at the top were hit by a double bogey on the ninth hole. A recovery like the one by Munir never came and he finished with a 73.

Alongside the Pakistani duo are Singaporeans Mitchell Slorach (69) and Koh Deng Shan (71), two-time Asian Tour winner Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh (70), Thailand’s Settee Prakongvech (69) and Suttijet Kooratanapisan (70) and Filipino James Ryan LAM (73).

A stroke further adrift are three local golfers including Matloob Ahmed (70), Safdar Khan (69) and Dilshad Ali (72), Indian pair of Honey Baisoya (74) and Aman Raj (67) and Thailand’s Peradol Panyathanasedh who had the day’s lowest score, a bogey-free 66.

Also shooting a bogey-free 66 was Indonesian Danny Masrin who is one of eight golfers on one-under 143.

A field of 132 golfers at the start has now been reduced to 74 with the cut set at four-over.

TOUGH NINTH HOLE

KGC’s signature hole is its ninth where finding the fairway from the tee is a challenge. Jakraphan and Munir both bogeyed while it was where Shabbir stumbled badly.

Playing in Shabbir’s flight was Suradit but the Thai made it look easy with a 15-foot putt for birdie.

It was a third straight birdie for Suradit and having finished runner up in two Asian Tour tournaments in India and Indonesia, he’s hoping he can clinch a maiden title here in Pakistan.

“My putting is coming back but I’ve to work on my driving,” he said. “I was hitting close to the pin today and I’m on target for a victory.”

Also feeling on target for victory is Munir.

“A one-shot deficit isn’t a big one,” said Munir, who had a bogey-free first round and fired seven birdies on Friday.

“I could’ve done even better today but I bogeyed a few holes and then had a double bogey on the 15th but nevertheless I think I played well.

“I was going for my shots but it didn’t come off on a few holes. Hopefully I’ll do even better over the next two days.”

With Shabbir and Ahmed both having finished their rounds earlier, Munir said he knew he had to perform to ensure one of the local hopes was close to the top.

“I’m happy that I didn’t disappoint,” he said with a smile.

An intense battle is on the cards and Munir knows that the lead will exchange hands over the next two rounds. He’s hoping, however, that a local golfer is on top at the end.

“The Asian Tour has come to the country for the first time since 2007 and that’s a very long time,” he said. “A local winner would show that we haven’t missed out on much and that we belong at the highest level.”

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2018