Two eagles have helped Danny Chia forge his way into a three stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Maybank Malaysian Open.
Malaysian opens up a three-shot lead on home soil
Two eagles have helped Danny Chia forge his way into a three stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Maybank Malaysian Open.
The 36-year-old local favourite carded a seven-under par 65 to move 13 under for the championship after the second round.
Teeing off on the back nine, birdies on four of his first eight holes saw him chase down overnight leader Seung-yul Noh and eagles towards the close stretched his advantage.
It is a familiar position for Chia after sharing the lead at this stage last year and he is determined not to make the same mistake twice.
Hopes
"I played really good today and I am very happy," said the Malaysian.
"I kept telling myself to be calm out there. My biggest concern is to not get too emotional but I played well on the front nine and told myself to be focused.
"I eagled the fourth and then chipped in at the seventh and my club went sky high. That was nice.
"It looks like my game plan the last two days has been pretty good so I hope to stick to it during the weekend."
Sweden's Alexander Noren is second, after two birdies and a bogey took him to a one-under 71, while overnight leader Noh is third on nine-under.
History
English duo Nick Dougherty (70) and Simon Griffiths (66) are tied with former Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Liang Wen-Chong of China (71) and Australia's Adam Blyth (70) in fourth on eight-under par.
But it was Simon Dyson's landmark hole-in-one at the 177-yard par-three fifth that grabbed the British contingent the most attention.
Seven-under par Dyson, who has finished third at the Malaysian Open the last two years, is not getting carried away after his piece of magic with the seven iron though.
"I hit it a lot more right than I wanted but it got a beautiful kick left and started rolling down the hill," the Yorkshireman said.
"It was always going to hit the green because of the slope but for it to go in was one of those little pieces of luck that you need."
World number 11 Anthony Kim just survived the cut, meanwhile, after improving to one-under with a seven-under 65.
