Jakarta: Natipong Srithong of Thailand shot a second-round seven-under-par 65 to grab a share of the lead with South Africa's Justin Harding at the US$500,000 Indonesia Open yesterday.
The one-time Asian Tour champion, who recovered from illness, traded eight birdies against a lone bogey for an 11-under-par 133 total at the Pondok Indah Golf Course.
Harding continued his outstanding form as he signed for a 66 following a 67 yesterday. The 32-year-old was bogey-free and he missed only two fairways.
Matthew Millar of Australia was one shot behind the leaders in lone third place after carding a 68.
Rattanon Wannasrichan rode on a hot putter to sign for a 65, tying with compatriot Natipong for the lowest score of the round.
He shared fourth place with Zimbabwe's Scott Vincent (66), as well as Indians Udayan Mane (68) and Khalin Joshi (68).
Chapchai Nirat of Thailand, Sihwan Kim of the United States and two-time Indonesia Open champion Gaganjeet Bhullar shot matchings 67s and were in tied-eighth.
"I wasn't feeling well at the start of the week, so I'm very happy to be in a good position. I'm feeling a lot better now than compared to Monday. In fact, I had to withdraw from the pro-am because of my fever," Natipong said.
"However, this is something that I have experienced before. I've learned to stick to my game plan regardless of how I feel. If you think too much, it'll lead to bad holes.
"I adjusted to the greens, which were a lot faster compared to the ones I played on last week. I putted well. The conditions were quite windy today, but that's fine as I have no problems hitting low balls.
"I'll just keep it simple for the rest of the tournament, which is to hit fairways and greens."
Harding said: "I had a good day. I was battling with the heat because I came from Cape Town, where it has been raining over the past couple of weeks. I didn't acclimatise very well.
"It's a matter of me getting through one hole at a time and drinking a lot of water.
"My game has been pretty solid since the turn of the year. I've won twice on the Sunshine Tour. I tried to minimise my mistakes here.
"It's a great golf course and it is quite testing from the tee. I'm always trying to figure out as to what clubs to hit, where and when. I thought I managed my game nicely. I hit a fair number of fairways and hit a few good putts.
"My round could have been a lot better though. I burned a couple of edges, just like yesterday. Overall, I'm happy and I couldn't really complain."