Lorean Lee moves into contention

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A commendable back-nine 32 gave Korea’s Dongha Lee the outright clubhouse lead as he signed for a four-under-par 67 to seize a one-shot edge over Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden at the weather-disrupted Sabah Masters on Friday.

Lee, who has been grabbling with limited playing rights on the Asian Tour this season after missing out at the Qualifying School last December, found some form to put himself in contention for a first professional title at the Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club.

The 36-year-old Korean started his round with a birdie on the 10 before dropping a shot on 17 to turn in 35. He would return home with four birdies in five holes from the third to take his place atop the leaderboard with a two-day total of seven-under-par 135.

Kokocinski, who opened his campaign with a 69, nailed two birdies in his closing three holes on to match Lee’s efforts of the day with a 67 while newly-minted winner Joohyung Kim of Korea battled to a 70 to settle two shots back on 137 alongside Aaron Wilkin of Australia.

A total of 53 players from the afternoon session did not manage to complete their second round on Friday as play was suspended at 3.29pm local time due to lightning threats before officials decided to call it a day at 4.49pm due to persistent rain.

Overnight co-leader Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand fired five birdies through 14 holes to move to 10-under total. Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-lun got off to a hot start with four straight birdies in his opening five holes to trail Phachara by one with seven holes left to play.

The second round of the Sabah Masters is set to resume at 7.00am on Saturday with the third and penultimate round scheduled to start not earlier than 10.00am.

The halfway cut is projected to be at one-over-par 143 with the leading 65 players and ties progressing into the weekend rounds.

The US$300,000 Sabah Masters, supported by the Tourism Malaysia with an aim to boost tourism in Sabah, is the ninth full-fiend event on the 2019 Asian Tour schedule.

Scores after round 2 of the Sabah Masters 2019 being played at the par 71, 6932 Yards Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club course (am - denotes amateur):

135 - Dongha Lee #562 (KOR) 68-67.

136 - Malcolm Kokocinski (SWE) 69-67.

137 - Joohyung Kim (KOR) 67-70, Aaron Wilkin (AUS) 66-71.

138 - Shahriffuddin Ariffin (MAS) 73-65, Chapchai Nirat (THA) 70-68.

139 - Danthai Boonma (THA) 73-66, Brian Jung (CAN) 73-66, Panuphol Pittayarat (THA) 68-71, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (THA) 73-66, Josh Salah (USA) 68-71, Jack Murdoch (AUS) 70-69.

140 - Shinichi Mizuno (JPN) 71-69, Trevor Simsby (USA) 72-68, Liu Yanwei (CHN) 69-71.

141 - Lexus Keoninh (USA) 71-70, Koh Deng Shan (SIN) 71-70, Lu Wei-chih (TPE) 72-69, Travis Smyth (AUS) 70-71, Cory Crawford (AUS) 70-71.

142 - Amarin Kraivixien (THA) 71-71, Settee Prakongvech (THA) 72-70, Rory Hie (INA) 73-69, Khalin Joshi (IND) 68-74, Andrew Martin (AUS) 72-70, Teemu Putkonen (FIN) 70-72, Taewoo Kim #1468 (KOR) 72-70.

143 - Matt Killen (ENG) 74-69, Huang Chi (TPE) 73-70, Jarin Todd (USA) 73-70, Jack Munro (AUS) 68-75, Wolmer Murillo (VEN) 75-68, Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 69-74, George Worrall (AUS) 71-72.

144 - Sydney Chung (USA) 73-71, Seungjae Maeng (USA) 73-71, Alvaro Velasco (ESP) 74-70.