Hong Kong: Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai unleashed his full repertoire of shots on Friday to take the halfway lead in the US$2 million Hong Kong Open, carding a brilliant seven-under-par 63, stacked with 10 birdies.
He was on 12-under 128 and led by one over Australian major champion Cameron Smith and two-time PGA Tour winner Bae Sang-Moon of South Korea who returned rounds of 66 and 63 respectively on a warm and sunny day at the Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling.
American Micah Laurent Shin (63), Thailand's Sadom Kaewkanjana (64), New Zealand's Ben Campbell (64) and Harrison Crowe (65) of Australia were one shot further back in the penultimate leg of this year's International Series.
Taiwan's Lee Chieh-po was also tied with them following a 65, driven in a big way by a hole-in-one on the par-three eighth, which saw him rewarded with the keys of a BMW car.
Phachara means diamond in Thai and he certainly put together a gem of a round which also saw a new-found maturity in his game.
On the iconic par-four 18th hole, facing a difficult second shot, he decided to lay up to avoid the pond that guards the green, as opposed to taking it on in his usual trademark cavalier style.
It paid off as he got up and down for the par save.
"My game is getting better," said the Thai golfer.
"Like on the last hole, I could hit it to the green, but it was like a one percent chance to get on to the green and the pin was back left. If I hit it past the green on the right side, I had no chance of making a par. So, then I thought 'okay, let me lay up,' and then I hit a good third shot and made par."
Phachara has been knocking on the door for his second victory on the Asian Tour since his maiden win at the end of 2021 in the Laguna Phuket Championship.
In September, he hit his second shot into the water in the sudden-death play-off against Guntaek Koh at the Shinhan Donghae Open in South Korea and settled for second, while last month he emerged third in the Macao Open.
He added: "My mindset at the weekend is to just play my game because right now I am hitting the tee shots better than last year and better than a couple of months ago.
"I think I have a chance this week because I feel great on the greens and also with my short game right now. "
Smith admitted he wasn't at his best yesterday despite nailing six birdies and making two bogeys.
"It was a lot tougher than yesterday," said the 2022 British Open winner, who made three birdies on the trot from the first hole.
"Early alarm this morning, body wasn't quite working. But you know, it was all right. It was a little bit scrappy to be honest. It was good to get out of there with three or four under."
His two round total is already three shots better than in 2014 when he finished joint ninth here, the only other time he has played in the event.
He added: "I'd like to think that I improve every year. You know, that was a long time ago, I probably didn't hit the ball as far, I probably didn't do anything as good as what I'm doing at the moment. So yeah, completely different scenario and hopefully I can keep improving."
Bae registered an eagle, seven birdies and two bogeys.
The Korean, who is making his first appearance here since 2007, said: "It was a really good round. I started with a bogey on my first hole. It was a little disappointing but after that I tried to really focus on my game, and it came back."