Andrew Tampion leads Pan-West Malaysian Amateur Open by two with a
two-round total of 13-under 131
Australian hotshot Andrew Tampion opened up a two-shot lead at the halfway stage
of the Pan-West Malaysian Amateur Open at Penang Golf Resort.
The 22-year-old golfer from Melbourne was in fine form for the second day running, shooting a second round five-under 67 on the East Course – three worse then his scintillating opening 64 – for a two-day total of 13-under 131.
In second place on 11-under 133 was another 22-year-old Aussie, Stephen Dartnall, who had co-led the first round with Tampion. The 22-year-old Perth-based golfer shot a second round 69 to keep Tampion well in his sights.
"I’ve been practising pretty hard lately and it's paying off," said Tampion, who finished third last year at Kelab Golf Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah. "I'm hitting the ball well and holing some putts, so I'm pretty happy."
"It's a nice course, I like it very much," added Tampion of the East Course. "It rewards good shots but if you hit a bad shot you can definitely be punished. The greens are good, they roll pretty true."
After a slow start to the year, Tampion has been in great form recently, winning the Keperra Bowl the week before in Melbourne with a 12-under total.
India's Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a best-of-the-day 66 to lie third on 134 (68, 66), three off the lead. Pan Cheng-Tsung of Chinese Taipei is in fourth place on 136 (69, 67), one ahead of India’s Chiragh Kumar (67, 70). Last year’s runner-up, Andrew Dodt of Australia, is in sixth place on 138 (69, 69).
Four golfers, New Zealand's James Gill, Singapore’s Jonathan Leong and Choo Tze Huang, and Thailand's Varut Chamchalam are in joint seventh place on 139.
The best-placed Malaysian was national team stalwart S. Sivachandran, who added a second round 74 to his opening 68 to lie on two-under 142, one ahead of team-mate Mohd Sukree Othman (72, 71) and highly-rated Australian Won Jon Lee (70, 73).
The cut came at seven-over 151, with 62 golfers from the 124-strong field making it into the weekend.
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