Jazz charges up the leaderboard

---

Defending champion Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand made a spirited charge up the leaderboard by carding a second round six-under-par 65 to head into the weekend in pole position at the SMBC Singapore Open on Friday.

Jazz, who started his round two shots off the pace, did not get off to the best of starts as he bogeyed the second hole. But he quickly found his rhythm with three birdies on holes four, eight and nine.

The 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion then raced towards the summit with another four birdies in his back-nine for a two-day total of 10-under-par 132 at the Serapong course, Sentosa Golf Club.

Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena matched Jazz’s efforts when he also returned with a 65 to share second place with Korean teen sensation Joohyung Kim, who signed for a 66 at the US$1 million event which is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO).

American Matt Kuchar and former world number one Justin Rose of England also underlined their star credentials when they posted a 68 and 66 respectively to share fourth place.

Canada’s Richard T. Lee, a two-time Asian Tour winner, slipped to sixth place (69), having started the round in tied for second while Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul returned with a 70 to stay four shots back of Jazz together with Japan’s Tomoharu Otsuki and India’s Rashid Khan in a share of seventh place.

66 players made the weekend cut which was set at one-over-par.

Leading Scores after round 2 of the SMBC Singapore Open being played at the par 71, 7397 Yards Sentosa GC course (am - denotes amateur):
132 - Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 67-65.
133 - Joohyung Kim (KOR) 67-66, Miguel Tabuena (PHI) 68-65.
134 - Matt Kuchar (USA) 66-68, Justin Rose (ENG) 68-66.
135 - Richard T. Lee (CAN) 66-69.
136 - Gunn Charoenkul (THA) 66-70, Tomoharu Otsuki (JPN) 69-67, Rashid Khan (IND) 70-66.
137 - Travis Smyth (AUS) 69-68, Angelo Que (PHI) 70-67, Yuki Inamori (JPN) 69-68.
138 - Poom Saksansin (THA) 69-69, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 69-69, Danthai Boonma (THA) 69-69.
139 - Rikuya Hoshino (JPN) 66-73, Scott Vincent (ZIM) 70-69, Sihwan Kim (USA) 69-70, Ryosuke Kinoshita (JPN) 70-69, John Catlin (USA) 70-69, Dongkyu Jang (KOR) 70-69.
140 - Todd Baek (KOR) 69-71, Matthew Griffin (AUS) 72-68, Mikumu Horikawa (JPN) 70-70, Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN) 72-68, Yuta Ikeda (JPN) 69-71, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 68-72, Kosuke Hamamoto (THA) 65-75, Mikiya Akutsu (JPN) 71-69.