Kota
Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, September 12: Sweden’s Oscar Zetterwall
soared into the lead after signing for successive four-under-par 68
at the halfway stage of the PGM Sabah ADT Championship on Thursday.
Starting the day two shots back, Zetterwall fired
five birdies against a lone bogey to lead by two shots with his
two-day total of eight-under-par 136 at the Sabah Golf and Country
Club.
Thailand’s Atiruj Winaicharoenchai signed for a 67 to join overnight French leader Erwan Vieilledent in a tied for second place while Korean Joohyung Kim sits three further shots back in fourth after battling to a 73 at the RM225,000 event, which is the 13th stop of this season’s Asian Development Tour.
Unheralded U-minn Woon of Malaysia failed to
follow up on his superb opening 68 and could only muster a 75, but it
was still good enough for him to remain as the beat-placed local in
joint fifth with Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng of Thailand and Sam
Lee of Fiji on matching 143s.
Zetterwall, who teed off from the 10th
hole, left it late to pick up his first two birdies on 16 and 18 to
turn in 36 before bogeying on the second for his only blemish of the
day. The dropped shot, however, did not dampen his spirit as he
bounced back to finish in style with three birdies on five, six and
nine.
“I drove the ball really good from the tee
which is important on this course and also put myself in the right
position on the green.
“I could not have asked for a better finish with
three birdies in the last five holes. It was quite windy towards the
end but I still managed to his some good shots.
“The birdie on the par-three fifth was the
highlight of the day. I hit it to about eight feet from the pin with
a seven-iron. It’s one of the toughest holes,” said Zetterwall.
Zetterwall aims to ride on the good momentum thus
far in a bid to end his dreadful three-year title drought.
In 2016, he won two titles – the Ciputra
Golfpreneur Tournament presented by Panasonic in Indonesia and ICTSI
Sherwood Hills Classic in the Philippines – to mark his career-best
third place outing in the final Order of Merit standings.
The solid effort earned him a promotion to the
Asian Tour the following year but it lasted only a season.
“I’m hitting the driver really well on this
tight course. It suits my game. If I keep doing that, I’ll definitely
have a chance in the weekend.
“It’s been three year since I last won in
Jakarta. It would be great if I could finally win again,” added
Zetterwall, who finished joint runner-up at the PGM Maybank
Championship last year.
The halfway cut was set at nine-over-parwith a
total of 51 players advancing into the final two rounds.
All ADT events offer Official World Golf Ranking
(OWGR) points. The winner will receive six OWGR points while the top
six players and ties will also earn points based on a sliding scale.
The top-seven finishers on the final Order of
Merit will secure their Asian Tour cards for 2020.
Ends.
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