Welshman David Park produced a vintage display of short iron play to snatch the lead from defending champion Thongchai Jaidee before thunderstorms brought an early end to the second round of the Maybank Malaysian Open at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club. Play was stopped at 2.51pm local time and officially abandoned for the day at 5.25pm, meaning only 64 players had completed 36 holes.
Prior to the storms, the scoring had been hotter than the sauna-like temperatures in the Malaysian capital. Jaidee stormed back into contention for an unprecedented treble with a superb round of nine under par 63, while Park added a 64 to his 67 for a 13 under par total of 131, to leapfrog Jaidee and his compatriot Thammanoon Srirot.
Park had started the day as one of the 63 players required to finish their first round. The 31 year old birdied the closing two holes and took that form straight into the second round, reeling off eight birdies to no dropped shots.
“Along with the birdies I had three putts that I missed from eight foot and under, so obviously I am hitting the ball nicely,” said Park. “The course suits my game. I am very good with my wedges and there are a lot of wedge shots out there. I also hit the ball straight as well and you have to hit the fairways on this course. I have been playing nicely since Abu Dhabi and now I am holing a few more putts.”
Jaidee became the first Thai golfer to win on The European Tour when landing this event in 2004 and after successfully defending the title last year, the 36 year old can make more history if he wins again this week.
No-one has won three consecutive titles in the 45 year history of Malaysia’s national open, but Jaidee remains on course to change that statistic after a brilliant round of nine birdies and no bogeys helped him reach halfway on 12 under par. Srirot is alongside him in second place after a seven under par 65 that contained a solitary bogey on the 12th.
Denmark’s Søren Kjeldsen matched Jaidee’s flawless 63 to be one shot back in fourth place on 11 under, with England’s John Bickerton and Korean Charlie Wi just behind.
It was an exemplary performance from Kjeldsen, the winner of The 2003 Diageo Championship at Gleneagles, and one that he put down to his strengthened mental approach.
Kjeldsen revealed that he had been working with fellow Dane and former Olympic rower Arnen Nielsen since October and was seeing the benefits on the golf course. “I think mentally I am better. Arnen has helped me a lot. He is a former Olympic rower, not a psychologist, and he just uses his experiences of being in sport. He did not make any money doing his sport so since finishing his career he has drawn on his experience to help others optimise their performance. He does not only work with sports people, but also business people,” said Kjeldsen.
“I have been playing well ever since the Volvo Masters. I had two missed cuts where I had a problem with my foot, but since then I have been finishing around 20th. My confidence has been building up slowly.”
While Kjeldesen was peppering the flag with metronomic regularity, first-round leader Miguel Angel Jiménez of Spain was having a rare off day, missing a number of greens to the left. All the good work of his opening round 64 was undone with a five over par 77 that saw him slip back to three under.
