As the second round started, the first position was captured by the Spanish golfer Rafa Cabrera Bello. He carded a 7-under 65 in the lead setting up a tight and exciting battle for the final day.

 

“(The 17th) is a tough hole and it was pretty windy,” Cabrera Bello said. “I got a wind gust, I didn’t hit that bad of a shot, but it is what it is. I just kept my head down and kept focusing on what I was doing. The birdie on 18 put me right back on track and I played an excellent front nine.”

 

Signature 17th in Thailand

 

 

He had a bogey free round in the front nine but unfortunately was not able to maintain the same at back nine where he accounted for a double bogey on the 17th. He is a 4 times DP Tour winner who moved up from 5th position during the first round to the top in the leaderboard by the end of the second round. 

 

 

10th Tee-  Amata Spring CC , Bangkok, Thailand

 

Following Rafa was Fabrizio Zanotti from Paraguay who with his two DP World Tour wins was standing at the second place at the end of the second round at Amata Spring CC. He had a total score of 11-under with four birdies on 1st ,2nd, 11th and 15th in the second round. This 39 year old gave his day’s best eagle shot on 7th and finished 5-under 67. 

 

“I was able to take advantage of the par fives,” Zanotti said. “Today it was a little tricky with the wind, you need those birdies so you can play a little more relaxed on the tough holes.”

 

Behind him were six players who tied-3. The list included some famous names such as Alexander Knappe from Germany , Japanese player Kazuki Higa, Tristan Lawrence of South Africa, another German player Yannik Paul , Thorbjorn Olesen from Denmark and Christoffer Bring from Denmark only. 

 

 

Thornjorn Olesen (left) and Amateur TK Ratchanon Chantananuwat

 

Denmark’s golfer Thornjorn Olesen already has 6 DP wins till date in his account. Yannik Paul has moved down from second spot to third at the end of the second round.

 

 

Kiradech Aphibarnrat

 

Fellow Thai Golfer  Kiradech Aphibarnrat was 4 strokes behind the leader at a total of 9-under. Getting positioned at the ninth position in the tournament he had no bogeys in his round and hit 5 birdies. He tied-9 with 5 other golfers in the home land. 

Amateur TK Ratchanon Chantananuwat stood T-24 with a score of 6-under 66. Two consecutive birdies on 10th and 11th saved his day. 
Tied -29 was another Thai player, Thongchai Jaidee who has an experienced eight wins on DP tour but couldn't make it to top 10 in the Thailand Classic as he hit three tragic bogeys 3rd, 8th, and 18th. He got to make 2-under 70 by the end of the second round.  

 

Indian star Manu Gandas tied-42 with six birdies, one bogey on 13th and one double bogey on the 8th. Another Indian who is playing in the Thailand Classic is Shubhankar Sharma, who stood at a very disappointing position of T-116. 

 

 

Leaderboard after two-rounds of Thailand Classic 2023