India's SSP Chawrasia stayed bogey free for the second day running as he moved into a share of the lead at the USD 750,000 Leopalace21 Myanmar Open here today.
He took Route 66 for the second day but this time under somewhat slightly windy conditions and logged six more birdies to follow the six from the first day at the Royal Mingalardon Golf and Country Club.
Chawrasia at 12-under shares lead with Australia's Shaun Norris (66-66), who was also bogey free for the second day.
A few other Indians also had good outings, as two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan positioned himself one shot behind the leaders, while Arjun Atwal was tied eighth.
Rashid, too, had a bogey free 66 and tied-third at 11-under alongside Australian Sam Brazel (66-67).
Former PGA Tour winner, Atwal (68-67) was happy to find rhythm in his game and moved to nine-under and tied eighth.
Himmat Rai gave away three bogeys on a track, which yielded low scores, but still carded 69 to move to seven-under, where he was tied 19th alongside Rahil Gangjee (71-66), who was the third Indian to shoot a bogey free 66 on the second day.
Shiv Kapur again dropped two late bogeys to card 70 and is six-under at tied 30th.
Chawrasia, who feels he is found the right rhythm in his game since the last day at Singapore, where he shot 67, including a four-under bogey free second nine, opened on the back nine in the second round.
He missed a birdie chance on par-4 10th, but had a good run with three successive birdies from 12th to 14th. A fourth birdie on 18th saw him take the turn in four-under. Two more birdies on third and fifth saw him complete another steady 66.
Chawrasia summed up his play, saying, "All in all, a good two days and I don't want to tamper with anything and just keep this momentum going. The layout is very nice. I like it."
Winner of three Asian Tour titles, two of them co-sanctioned with European Tour, Chawrasia, added, "I have not driven well off the tee, but I hit my irons well. I missed a lot of fairways, but found a lot of greens in regulation and putted well. But whenever I missed the fairway it was by a small margin so I recovered well. I needed 29 putts in first round and it was 25 in second. I putted really well on my first nine, which was the back stretch of the course and needed only 11 putts.
On a day when he hit the irons close he needed only two long birdie putts, from 20 feet on 13th and from 15-16 feet on third.
"But I also had two good par saves, when I missed the green in regulation on 16th and sixth."
Rashid, whose driver was not working last week, said, "I was struggling with my driver last week but I managed to hit the ball straight this week and if I can continue doing so, I'll be there. I had an extra driver head and I fixed it myself and it is working well."
Rashid started well with three birdies in his opening six holes and then had another three in his last five holes.
"I missed several putts from seven to 13 but I recovered well on 14 with a good up and down and managed to close with two birdies. Overall it was a good round as I've stayed bogey-free the last two days," said Rashid.
Atwal, who won on the Asian Tour in December 2014 after a gap of six years, had a great start with three birdies from first five holes. His only blemish was a bogey on par-5 sixth and on the back nine, he eagled par-5 14th and closed with a birdie on 18th.
The only two Indians who missed the cut were Gaganjeet Bhullar and Chiragh Kumar.
Bhullar (70-72), who had an early double on par-5 second and a bogey on fourth, added three birdies later on, but it was not enough and he missed the cut by one.
Chiragh, who started from 10th, exited with 73-71, with his bogeys on sixth and eighth proving costly as the cut fell at three-under.
