Gavin Green, already a winner of the professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour as an amateur, today set himself up for a first victory as a pro when he opened up a five-stroke cushion at the top of the Northport Glenmarie Championship.
The young Malaysian, who won at PGM Vascory Templer Park Championship last season and only recently turn pro after finishing his college studies in the US, shot a 69 for a 16-under 200 total.
Americans 205 Casey O'Toole (65) and Blake Snyder (67) were joint second on 205, one shot ahead of Malaysian Airil Rizman (67) and Singapore's Lam Chih Bing (72) on 10-under.
Sukree Othman, another of the local contingent, carded a 70 and was sixth on 208.
Happy with his performance but keeping his feet on the ground, Green said: "I played pretty well today but I didn't putt as well as I would have liked. I could gone a lot lower if I did not miss a few short putts."
Looking ahead to tomorrow, he added: "I am going to continue to play aggressively as I have been and I won't hold back. I will try shoot the lowest round as I possibly can."
Earlier in the day Green finished with an eight-under 64 for 131 total, completing his second round after play was prematurely brought to an end on Thursday evening.