Jamie Donaldson remained hot, not as hot as he was in the first round but he has set a scorching 13-under par pace at the halfway mark of the Thailand Golf Championship.
Martin Kaymer put up a 65 on Friday and is the closest man to Donaldson at 11-under par and the two will enjoy each other’s company on Saturday.
The resurgent Sergio Garcia kept himself in contention with a 69 and in a tie for third with young English star Matthew Fitzpatick (67) and Chinnarat Phadungsil (69) of the host nation.
With temperatures hitting close to 94 degrees, the leaders will contend with the course and the heat over the final 36 holes. “It was like a sauna out there,” said Kaymer who finished a shot off the winning score last year and will be trying to make up for that over the weekend. “I just need to stay where I am heading into the weekend. I’m hitting a lot of fairways and I think it’s really important.”
The highest-ranked player in the field, Bubba Watson, improved from his opening 71 but only by a shot and his three-under par total left him 10 off the lead and tied for 28th.
