![\"Chikka](\"images\/golf\/Chikka-S-of-India.jpg\")
Jakarta: Marcus Fraser of Australia birdied the closing two holes to share the second round clubhouse lead with countryman Kalem Richardson in the weather-interrupted BNI Indonesian Masters presented by Zurich on Friday. <\/p>\nJakarta: Marcus Fraser of Australia birdied the closing two holes to share the second round clubhouse lead with countryman Kalem Richardson in the weather-interrupted BNI Indonesian Masters presented by Zurich on Friday. <\/p>\n
Fraser, ranked second on the Order of Merit, finished in the morning session with seven birdies against two bogeys for a five-under-par 67 tie at the top alongside Richardson (68) on eight-under-par 136 at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.<\/p>\n
The halfway stage of the US$750,000 Asian Tour event was suspended for the day at 5.45 pm due to fading light as a total of 27 players will return to resume their rounds at 6.30am on Saturday. Play was suspended for an hour due to lightning threats in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand dropped two shots in near darkness to finish the round on a 69 to trail by one alongside Tirawat Kaewsiribandit (68), S. Chikkarangappa (67) of India and co-overnight leader Masahiro Kawamura (71) of Japan.<\/p>\n
Fraser, who needs a victory this week to overtake Scott Hend on the Order of Merit, was delighted to return to form and build on his two-day momentum. After finding 16 greens, the Australia was held back by a cold putter where he made 29 putts.<\/p>\n
“My game was pretty steady. I felt like I played pretty similar to what I did yesterday. I just had one poor drive on 17. That was a terrible golf shot and I made a bogey. Other than that it was steady all day. Hopefully I can keep building on the score I’m on and keep playing well. Hopefully I can make some putts,” said Fraser.<\/p>\n
After struggling with a knee injury earlier this year, Richardson, aiming for a first Asian Tour victory, stayed in the moment and was rewarded with a share of the lead.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been struggling a little bit with the game. It was nice to get through a couple of challenges today and stay in the moment. I’ve been getting carried away and that’s been costing me,” said the Australian.<\/p>\n
“My left knee was inflamed (from cycling) and I’ve been getting a lot of treatment from the staff here and managing it myself. It is feeling a lot better and I’ve not had any dramas in the last few weeks,” added Richardson.<\/p>\n
Ranked 44th in the world, Thongchai, the only player to win three Order of Merit crowns, continued his rich vein of form after finishing inside the top-10 in Korea last week.<\/p>\n
He charged into contention with a solid round and was forced to finish the last hole as nightfall landed over the Royale Jakarta course to avoid an early morning call on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“We rushed in the last two holes because we didn’t want to come back early tomorrow. I played very well and I have no complaints with the round. At least now I know I will have some rest and have a chance at the weekend,” said Thongchai.<\/p>\n
With two top-10 results on the Asian Tour and a victory on the local circuit, the confident Chikkarangappa charged up the leaderboard with a solid homeward nine which included four birdies.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been going through positive weeks. It is not only this week. I’ve been following up on my solid performances and I’m really confident with how things are going. Hopefully I can do something this week.<\/p>\n
“It feels like a home tour this week. Anirban (Lahiri) is here and we did some work on the range and helping each other. I have positive energy when he is around me because I get the best advice from him,” said the Indian, who is close friends with Lahiri.
Scores after round 2 of the BNI Indonesian Masters being played at the par 72, 7340 Yards Royale Jakarta GC course (am – denotes amateur):<\/p>\n
136 – Kalem RICHARDSON (AUS) 68-68, Marcus FRASER (AUS) 69-67.
137 – Tirawat KAEWSIRIBANDIT (THA) 69-68, Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 66-71, Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 70-67, Thongchai JAIDEE (THA) 68-69.
138 – Jeev Milkha SINGH (IND) 69-69, Phachara KHONGWATMAI (THA) 67-71, Casey O’TOOLE (USA) 69-69, Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 69-69, Javi COLOMO (ESP) 69-69, LIU Yan-wei (CHN) 68-70, Poom SAKSANSIN (THA) 69-69.
139 – CHAN Shih-chang (TPE) 69-70, Michael TRAN (VNM) 70-69, Danthai BOONMA (THA) 70-69, Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 66-73, Darren TAN (AUS) 68-71.
140 – Johannes VEERMAN (USA) 69-71, Himmat RAI (IND) 70-70, Arjun ATWAL (IND) 67-73, Namchok TANTIPOKHAKUL (THA) 68-72.
141 – Pariya JUNHASAVASDIKUL (THA) 69-72, Anirban LAHIRI (IND) 75-66, LEE Chieh-Po (TPE) 71-70, Lionel WEBER (FRA) 68-73, Suradit YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA) 67-74, Chiragh KUMAR (IND) 72-69, LU Wei-chih (TPE) 68-73.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jakarta: Marcus Fraser of Australia birdied the closing two holes to share the second round clubhouse lead with countryman Kalem Richardson in the weather-interrupted BNI Indonesian Masters presented by Zurich on Friday. <\/p>\n
Fraser, ranked second on the Order of Merit, finished in the morning session with seven birdies against two bogeys for a five-under-par 67 tie at the top alongside Richardson (68) on eight-under-par 136 at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17684,12943,466,11380,6797,297,946],"class_list":["post-29255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-golf-golf","tag-bni-indonesian-masters","tag-golf-news","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-kalem-richardson","tag-marcus-fraser","tag-s-chikkarangappa","tag-thongchai-jaidee"],"yoast_head":"\n