Niall Turner missed the cut in Thailand by one shot after a second round 75 left him four over par on Friday at the Amata Spring Country Club - trailing the blistering pace set by Lee Westwood on 20 under.
Westwood maintained his dazzling form at the Thailand Golf Championship on Friday, shooting a superb eight-under-par 64 to extend his lead currently at a staggering 14 shots after the morning session.
The world number three, who flirted with a 59 on Thursday before settling for a 60, produced another masterclass at the Amata Spring Country Club to match the Asian Tour’s 36-hole record of 20-under-par 124 held by Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat.
The 38-year-old produced eight birdies on a windy day in the Asian Tour’s season finale but found his greatest satisfaction with an eight-foot par save on his last hole, the ninth which kept him bogey-free over two rounds.
American John Daly, a two-time Major winner, shot a 73 for second place in the clubhouse while Simon Dyson of England and Japan’s Kenichi Kuboya are a shot back of Daly.
Westwood, chasing his fourth victory of the season and second in three weeks, looks poised to eclipse the largest winning margin on the Asian Tour of 13 shots held by Ernie Els of South Africa at the 2005 BMW Asian Open in China.
While he was ecstatic with his sparkling form, Westwood was amazed how far he was ahead of the chasing pack.
“It’s 14 now, outrageous isn’t it?” said a delighted Westwood after his round. “It’s still a long way to go. But at the same time, I’m looking forward to the weekend. I’m playing great and I’m feeling in total control. Every aspect of my game feels good.”
With a stiff breeze blowing over the highly rated par 72, 7,453-yard Amata Spring course, Westwood was in total control of his game. He felt his effort this morning could have been better than the opening round’s 60, which tied the Asian Tour’s 18-hole low.
“Strange really. Today almost felt better than yesterday. It was quite tough out there. The scoring is pretty tricky. 64 is a really good score. Not that 60 wasn’t a good score yesterday! I hit a lot of good shots again and hit it close. Delighted with two days’ work,” said Westwood.
“I’ll still try to play the same and try to win the tournament. I’ll try to keep the lead irrelevant and keep on playing as I’ve been playing. I’m playing pretty well and I want to maintain that and keep making birdies and no bogeys. The most satisfying shot of the day was making that eight or nine footer I holed at the last to keep the bogey off the card the last two days.
“It’ll be great. I won two weeks ago at the Nedbank (South Africa). I’ve got myself into a great position. It would be nice to win four times in a year.”
His rivals can only hope to play for second place now at the Thailand Golf Championship, one of four new events on the Asian Tour this season.
Daly, who shot three birdies against four bogeys, threw the white flag. “Playing for second is all I can do. If you told me somebody would be 20-under after four rounds, I would have been shocked but after two? He (Westwood) is just in the zone. He is putting it so good. Nobody is going to catch him so I think the thing for me to do is to go out and shoot under-par in the last two days. The course is not that easy. He is making it easy but it is not that easy for us,” said the American veteran.
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