Chapchai

Nirat

The local man has played in four previous Asian Tour events at the Hua Hin venue and his tally of three top 15s includes a fifth place in the 2009 Black Mountain Masters and a third in the 2014 King’s Cup. That said, he missed the cut when it was played as a co-sanctioned European Tour event for the first time last year. He has a smattering of good form on this year’s Asian Tour with a T8 in the Singapore Open at the end of January and a T15 in last month’s Myanmar Open. It’s also worth noting that he’s finished seventh in GIR in his last two starts so the big Thai is striking it nicely.

An afternoon starter, Nirat caught early leaders S.S.P Chowrasia and Richard T. Lee with a bogey-free lap of the par 71. He started out with a pair of birdies and circled four more on the back nine at 11, 13, 14 and 18. The Thai has a particular fondness for India. He’s made the top 10 in his last two starts in this event and shot an incredible 32-under to capture the Asian Tour’s SAIL Open on Indian soil in 2009. That put him in the history books for the lowest score ever recorded on any of the six major Tours in the world.

One of the five overnight co-leaders after an opening 65, he couldn’t further his score on a testing day so is 6-under 136 at the midpoint. When he completed his second lap, that was three shots behind leader Siddikur Rahman but good for T2 in the clubhouse. After opening with seven pars at Delhi Golf Club, Nirat made a move with a birdie at 17 but gave it back with a bogey-6 at the par-5 18th. He slipped over par for the day with another bogey at the fifth but managed a birdie on the par-5 eighth to balance the books. He split 9 (of 14) fairways and hit 13 greens in regulation so lacked the accuracy he managed on day one (11 fairways, 16 greens).