Red-hot Harding in pole position to win again

The 32-year-old from Cape Town has been flawless for two days, his 12 under-par-128 putting him in pole position to follow his maiden Tour title in the Indonesia Open, which he won two weeks ago.
“The highlight of my round would have to be on hole 1, where I made a putt from over 30 feet. I made two more birdies which took me to minus 12 and then I kind of battled through the last six holes,” said Harding, who also scored two victories in South Africa’s Sunshine Tour in May.
 Despite his continued success, Harding was among several players claiming that some of the flag positions had been too tricky.

 “There were some pretty tough pin positions which were tough to get to and I didn’t seem to get anything close enough to make birdies,” said the South African, who is the heavy favourite to win again this weekend. 
“I managed to make a couple of good par saves after hitting some indifferent shots but I’m happy with the round overall.  I treat the first three rounds [as needing] to get into a good position. If I come up with a good one on Saturday, we can have a nice time on Sunday and see if we can turn it into a title,” he said.

JACK WILSON 

Quirky Australian Jack Wilson, who wears deadlock hair and a long beard, carded his personal best round, a scorching 62, to sit in second place on nine under-par 131.
Following two shots behind and five off the lead on 133 were American Jarin Todd and Japan’s Naoto Nakanishi following respective rounds of 67 and 69.
Defending champion Shiv Kapur of India (68) shared fifth place on 134 with Malaysian Ben Leong and Australian John Younger. 
Inconsistency saw overnight leader Raththee Sirithanakunsak slip down the leaderboard after a two-over 72 that left him on five-under and in a tie for tenth with Nirun Sae-ung, Thailand’s other top performer over the first two days.

13-time Asian Tour victor Thongchai Jaidee, after an opening round of 70, finally got some momentum as he shot six birdies against two bogeys to card a four-under 66.
“In the first round I was unable to adjust to the conditions coming back from Europe. I didn’t plan to play this event from the beginning but I wanted to show support and I believe it’s going to be one of Thailand’s biggest golf events in the future,” he said.
He was also unhappy with the flag positions. “I am four under heading to the weekend , which is not bad, but the problem for me is the flag positions, which I think were too difficult. The flag positions on the fifth and eighth holes shouldn’t be as tough as they were,” said the former Thai No 1.

Asked about his weekend game plan, Thongchai said: “The game plan is still the same which is to hit the fairways and the greens. When scoring opportunities come, you have to grab them."
Bad weather suspended play early, leaving 14 players to finish their rounds at 7am on Saturday and delaying the start of the third round to 8am.
Around 78 players were expected to make the cut at two over par.
Meanwhile, current Thai No 1 Kiradech Aphibarnrat popped along to support his countrymen and apologised for not being able to compete.
“I really feel tired after a series of events in the US and Europe. I need to rest before the World Golf Championship in Akron and the PGA Championship,” Kiradech said.