Padraig Harrington battled to a four-under-par 67 despite struggling with a stomach discomfort to trail second round leader Daniel Chopra of Sweden by two shots on Saturday.
Harrington returned Saturday morning to complete nine holes for an 11-under-par 131 total that was matched by James Morrison of England and Gregory Bourdy of France at the US$2 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
A total of 70 players returned Saturday morning to complete the second round of the Iskandar Johor Open after play was suspended at 6.40pm on Friday.
Chopra, who finished the second round on Friday, aims to recapture the title he won way back in 1993 but will have to fend off the strong challenge from three-time Major champion Harrington at the Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club.
“I’ve actually been feeling a bit under the weather for the last 48 hours, so that break yesterday actually did me the world of good, because I was able to sleep for three hours. I’m not sure if it was something I ate, but I’ve been really struggling to sleep and I lost my appetite,” said Harrington.
“But I felt better after my sleep yesterday afternoon, and I felt better again this morning. I’ve been surviving on toast for the last two days, but hopefully I can get something down me now and maybe go for a little nap before the third round starts,” he added.
Harrington played nine holes on Friday before play was suspended due to darkness. He returned this morning with a pair of birdies from 11 and added two more birdies on holes 16 and 18 to stay within touching distance of Chopra.
“It was important to get as close to Daniel (Chopra) as I could, because we don’t know if there are 18 or 36 holes left to play. I was very aware of that coming down the last nine holes, and even on the last hole. The pin is very tight to the water but I decided to attack the flag with my pitch anyway, which maybe I wouldn’t have done if I knew for definite there was still 36 holes left to play,” he said.
Sddikur of Bangladesh, winner of the 2010 Brunei Open, is the highest ranked Asian in tied sixth place after posting a 67 on Friday for a 134 total to lie five shots off the lead.
The halfway cut was set at two-under-par 140 with a total of 72 players making the cut. Round three will start no later than 12.45pm local time.
Scores after round 2
129 - Daniel CHOPRA (SWE) 64-65.
131 - Padraig HARRINGTON (IRL) 64-67, James MORRISON (ENG) 66-65, Gregory BOURDY (FRA) 64-67.
133 - Joost LUITEN (NED) 63-70.
134 - SIDDIKUR (BAN) 67-67, Christian NILSSON (SWE) 67-67, Michael JONZON (SWE) 69-65, Jose Manuel LARA (ESP) 67-67, Marcus FRASER (AUS) 64-70.
135 - Soren HANSEN (DEN) 68-67, Rhys DAVIES (WAL) 70-65, Soren KJELDSEN (DEN) 71-64, Darren BECK (AUS) 70-65, Brett RUMFORD (AUS) 71-64, Manny VILLEGAS (COL) 72-63, Fredrik ANDERSSON HED (SWE) 68-67.
136 - Rikard KARLBERG (SWE) 70-66, Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 65-71, Peter KARMIS (RSA) 70-66, Jamie MCLEARY (SCO) 66-70, Marcel SIEM (GER) 69-67, Louis OOSTHUIZEN (RSA) 69-67, Michael HOEY (NIR) 69-67.
137 - Mardan MAMAT (SIN) 69-68, Steve WEBSTER (ENG) 69-68, Sam WALKER (ENG) 70-67, Anthony KIM (USA) 68-69, Guido VAN DER VALK (NED) 69-68, Danny WILLETT (ENG) 69-68, Richie RAMSAY (SCO) 68-69.
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