Siddikur
Local hero Siddikur extended his lead by eight strokes after the second round of the Grameenphone Bangladesh Masters courtesy of some glorious putting on Friday.
Siddikur posted a flawless round of seven-under-par 65 for a two-day total of 13-under-par 131 to tighten his grip in the US$75,000 Asian Development Tour event.
His compatriot Md. A. Motin battled to a 71 for a 139 total while Japanese Hirotaro Naito and Bangladeshis Md Liton Howlader and Md. Zamal Hossain Mollah shared third place on matching 140s at the Kurmitola Golf Club.
Siddikur, the first Bangladeshi to play and win on the Asian Tour, turned in 32 before adding three birdies on his homeward nine. His birdies were all within the region of six to 10 feet and he was beaming with confidence with his distant lead.
“It was an excellent day with another great day of putting. I played very well in the first round and that gave me more confidence to go out and just shoot another low number,” said Siddikur, winner of the Brunei Open on the elite Asian Tour last season.
“If I continue to play like how I did, I believe it will be very easy for me to win. I’m feeling confident and feel like I have one hand on the trophy,” he added.
Motin, who learned his golf swing by swinging with a tree branch, continued his dream run with six birdies against five bogeys. He admitted that it will be an uphill task to narrow the deficit on the number one golfer in Bangladesh.
“Siddikur is the best golfer in the country and it will be difficult to chase his score. But you never know as anything can happen in golf. I’m going to go all out and attack because I got nothing to lose. I just need to work on my iron shots,” said the 39-year-old.
Japanese Naito was disappointed with his wayward tee shots as he struggled to close in on Siddikur.
“I’m not happy with what I shot. I’m nine strokes behind Siddikur and need to be on attack mode. My iron shots and putting were working but my tee shots let me down. You need to be accurate on this golf course as the fairways are narrow,” said Naito, who finished in tied 16th place at the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final stage last month.
Thailand’s Tommy Mansuwan, who has been based in the United States for the past 23 years, was delighted to recover from his opening 76 with a second round 69 highlighted by four birdies against one bogey to place him in tied 15th place.
“I played pretty well yesterday. I hit it well, a lot better than my score but I made two costly mistakes but other than that I tried to do the same thing today. Tried not to be too greedy and it worked well for me,” said the 29-year-old who is searching for his first career victory.
A total of 58 players made the halfway cut which was set at 10-over-par 154.
Leading second round scores
131 – Siddikur (BAN) 66-65
139 - Md. A. MOTIN (BAN) 68-71
140 - Hirotaro NAITO (JPN) 70-70, Md. Liton HOWLADER (BAN) 69-71, Md. Zamal Hossain MOLLAH (BAN) 72-68
141 - Md. Milon AHMED (BAN) 72-69, Yosuke TSUKADA (JPN) 70-71
142 - Md. Sayum MIAH (BAN) 70-72
143 - Justin BRINK (IRL) 71-72, Bryan SALTUS (USA) 71-72, Rizal AMIN (MAS) 70-73, Ross CANAVAN (ENG) 71-72
144 - Md. Rezaul KARIM (BAN) 74-70, Takafumi KAWANE (JPN) 73-71
145 - Tommy MANSUWAN (THA) 76-69, Masaki SAKATA (JPN) 76-69, Kenichi SAWADA (JPN) 74-71, Neil REILLY (ENG) 72-73
