Fakhrul Akmal extended his lead after carding a second six-under 66 at Kelab Golf DiRaja Pahang, opening up a three-shot advantage over Kim Leun Kwang with one round to go.
Fakhrul completed a flawless round of three birdies on each nine and despite three-putting the reachable Par 5 first hole, indicated that he was ready to record his first professional victory on the Toyota Tour.
“To be honest, my putting wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be and I left at least four birdies out there,” said the 28-year-old Kedahan.
“My overall game especially my irons after 36 holes has given me confidence and I’m looking forward to hopefully achieving victory tomorrow.”
For Kim, this is the second consecutive time that he will be joining the final group on the Toyota Tour. Last month at Palm Resort GCC, Kim was paired with Paul San and Syahiran Syakir but ended up second, two strokes behind the Supra Cup winner San.
“Maybe tomorrow might be different,” declared Kim who added a four-under 68 to his 67 yesterday.
“I’m just three strokes behind Fakhrul and in golf, anything can happen," said Kim whose nearest rival would be Sabahans Brandon Lai and Ben Leong who are a further three strokes adrift.
Kenneth De Silva achieved the low round of the tournament so far when he carded seven birdies without bogeys for a 65. He vaulted himself into joint fifth on 141 with Lee Chong Li, Edven Ying, Daeng Rahman and Kemarol Baharin. The Toyota Tour is organised by the Professional Golf Malaysia and delivered by MST Golf.
Ying, the local hope with Ruhanraj Vinayagam could only manage a three-under 69 and is nine strokes behind the leader.
In the Ladies Championship, Zulaikah Nasser opened up a four-shot lead over Geraldine Wong when she carded a commendable three-under 69 for a two-day 142 aggregate. Zulaikah had birdies on Holes 1, 7, 10, 12 and 18. She bogeyed 15 and 17.
Second Round Scores
Men's
132 (-12) Fakhrul Akmal 66-66
135 (-9) Kim Leun Kwang 67-68
138 (-6) Brandon Lai 69-69, Ben Leong 69-69
141 (-3) Lee Chong Li 70-71, Edven Ying 72-69, Daeng Rahman 69-72, Kenneth De Silva 76-65, Kemarol Bahrin 71-70
142 (-2) Zurie Harun 70-72, Airil Rizman 73-69, Zia Izzuddeen 69-73
Ladies'
142 (-2) Zulaikah Nasser 73-69
146 (+2) Geraldine Wong 73-73
148 (+4) Michele Koh 75-73
151 (+7) Wang Xin Yao (am) 73-78
152 (+8) Amalia Shahzan 76-76
