Hie keeps his cool in the lead

---

Indonesia’s Rory Hie remains the man to catch as he returned with a four-under-par 68 to hold on to his lead after the second round of the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship on Friday.

Hie, who held the overnight lead, stumbled early with an opening bogey in his opening back-nine 10. He recovered well by responding with two birdies in his next three holes before reaching the turn in 35.

The Indonesian dropped another shot on the second hole but responded well again with a pair of birdies on three and four and even stormed home with back-to-back birdies on eight and nine to secure his position atop the leaderboard.

India’s Abhijit Chadha meanwhile made the most of his intimate knowledge of the Classic Golf and Country Club- a venue where he has won thrice in the different stages of his golfing career by returning with a 65 to take outright second place, one shot back of Hie.

Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto continued to show his good form with another assured performance at the inaugural Asian Tour event, closing with an eagle-three at the last to take a share of third place with the Indian duo of Rashid Khan and Aman Raj with his two-day total of 10-under-par 13.

American Nicholas Latimer fired the lowest round of the day when he returned with a 64, marking his card with eight birdies and making it into the weekend round for only the second time in five starts on the Asian Tour this season.

Latimer is among a group of four players tied for sixth, three shots behind Hie.

The weekend cut was set at one-under where a total of 75 players will progress to the final two rounds.

Leading scores after round 2 of the Classic GCC International Championship being played at the par 72, 7114 Yards Classic Golf and Country Club course (am - denotes amateur):
132 - Rory Hie (INA) 64-68.
133 - Abhijit Chadha (IND) 68-65.
134 - Aman Raj (IND) 67-67, Kosuke Hamamoto (THA) 69-65, Rashid Khan (IND) 68-66.
135 - Suradit Yongcharoenchai (THA) 66-69, Nicholas Latimer (USA) 71-64, Byungjun Kim (KOR) 69-66, Aadil Bedi (IND) 67-68.
136 - Trevor Simsby (USA) 71-65.
137 - Ankur Chadha (IND) 69-68, S. Chikkarangappa (IND) 70-67, Masahiro Kawamura (JPN) 70-67, Andreas Gronkvist (SWE) 67-70, Abhinav Lohan (IND) 69-68, Koh Deng Shan (SIN) 69-68.
138 - Kwanchai Tannin (THA) 66-72, Daniel Fox (AUS) 68-70, Miguel Carballo (ARG) 69-69, Pawin Ingkhapradit (THA) 72-66, Veer Ahlawat (IND) 71-67, Mathiam Keyser (RSA) 70-68, Karandeep Kochhar (IND) 72-66.
139 - Md. Zamal Hossa Mollah (BAN) 71-68, Gregory Foo (SIN) 70-69, Travis Smyth (AUS) 72-67, Yashas Chandra (IND) 69-70, Kshitij Naveed Kaul (IND) 69-70, Janne Kaske (FIN) 72-67, Himmat Rai (IND) 68-71, Shinichi Mizuno (JPN) 69-70, Kerry Sweeney (USA) 72-67, Khalin Joshi (IND) 73-66, Poosit Supupramai (THA) 68-71.