Prom, Karlberg share lead

Prom Meesawat and Rikard Karlberg of Sweden each shot second rounds of 71 to maintain their joint lead at the midway stage of the US$1-million King’s Cup Hua Hin Golf Tournament at the Black Mountain Golf Club yesterday.

Prom was holding a two-stroke advantage going into the final hole before his two-foot par putt kissed the edge of the pin and bounced away, leading to a disappointing bogey and a total eight-under-par 136.

Karlberg had an uneven day until he sank finishing back-to-back birdies to again grab the top spot in the clubhouse along with the Thai.

“I was still playing well today but I missed some easy putts like at the final hole. I still believe it’s going to be windy tomorrow, so my plan is to stay among the leaders,’’ said Prom, who added he wasn’t thinking yet about winning the event.

A stroke back in lone third was South Korea’s Mo Joong-kyung, who showed he is capable of matching younger rivals stride for stride when he got back into the groove with a second-round 68. The 42-year-old Korean’s disciplined fitness regime paid off as he took his place just behind the leaders with a two-day total of seven-under-par 137 at the Asian Tour season-ending event.

While age is not on the Korean’s side, he is determined to show he can still compete at the highest level. Mo’s last win on the region’s premier Tour was in 2008 in Thailand.

“I’m getting old. All the young guys are coming up so it is getting harder to win. I’ve been doing weight training in the last three or four weeks. My body feels pretty good so hopefully I can keep it for the whole year,” said Mo.

“I work out about three times a week for two hours a day. During the days when I don’t work out, I will go for a run for about five kilometres. I need to do all these to keep up with all these young guys!” quipped Mo.

Mo knows he has a realistic chance of ending his six-year title drought this week and is determined to stamp his mark after enjoying a flawless round highlighted by four birdies at the picturesque Black Mountain Golf Club.

“I have a chance now so I’ll try my best. I’m very happy because I didn’t make a bogey in this wind. The conditions on the golf course are very challenging because of the wind. You need to keep the ball flight low here.”

Chawalit Plaphol shot a second straight 69 for a total six-under-par 138 to take joint fourth position along with several players, including countryman Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Japan’s Kodai Ichihara, Australians Adam Groom and Kieran Pratt and Taiwanese Lin Wen-tang.

Chawalit, who won his fourth Asian Tour title at the 2013 season-opening event in Myanmar, is upbeat of emulating his early success after a solid round of 69 that was highlighted by four birdies and one bogey.

“Yes, it’ll be nice to round off the season with another win as that would give me lots of confidence to start 2014 well again. It was really windy today but I managed to remain steady and I guess it showed in my card today,” said Chawalit.

A total of 63 players made the cut at 2 over par 146.