Chia leads second day despite heavy rain

JAKARTA (JP): Danny Chia of Malaysia played more convincingly in the second day of the Olympic Golf Championship at the Rancamaya golf course in Bogor Wednesday despite heavy rain which halted the match.

Chia, who jointly led with Indonesians Ilyasak and Maan Nasim on the opening day, played aggressively with long strokes and beautiful backspin chips. His well-placed balls always landed near the pins.

The Malaysian managed to land five birdies during his 18-hole journey. He carded four-under par 68, with 34 in the first nine and another 34 in the back nine. His total points is seven-under par 137.

He led jointly with Wang Ter Chiang of China Taipei in the scoreboard. Wang produced five-under par 67 on the second day of the Rp 250 million (US$28,400) championship, which will end on Friday.

"I love the course here. I played really well today but unfortunately the match has to be postponed due to heavy rain. I'll do my best to win the event here," Wang said.

Malaysian Md Rashid Ismail carded four-under par 68. The 2000 Bukit Darmo champion also managed to take five birdies and one bogey to score a total of two-under par 142.

While defending champion Stephen A Lindskog of Sweden has started to perform at his best, he has yet to reach his peak. He scored one-under par 71 Wednesday to collect a total even par 144.

Ilyasak, Maan, Sanusi and others tried really hard to produce best scores to qualify for the cut-off.

In the amateur division, Indra Hermawan continued his lead but was closely trailed by I Ketut Sugiartha.

Only 20 pros and 10 amateur players will have the chance to qualify for the third and fourth days.

Heavy rain in the Bogor area had forced the organizers to delay the match although there were still 10 groups waiting for their flight turn. The second round will be continued Thursday at around 6.15 a.m. Jakarta time. (yan)