With most players appearing to struggle on a windy second day of the 2018 BNI Indonesian Masters on Friday, Thailand’s Poom Saksansin handled the conditions with aplomb to take the lead in the clubhouse after recording nine birdies.

Playing in the morning session alongside Argentine Miguel Carballo and India’s Shiv Kapur, the world number 239 Poom finished the second round with a nine-under-par 63. After two rounds, the 2016 Indonesian Masters Champion has recorded a 14-under-par 130.

The 25-year-old was humble about his performance, saying that luck played a big hand and admitted that the course was a bit difficult for him.

“This is not an easy course for me. I was just lucky today. But I think I like this course. I won here before two years ago. My putting was very good today.”

“I hope I can continue to play like I did today but it will be tough. I will just keep playing and stick to my strategy and routine and see how it goes,” said Poom.

Thai golfers dominated the second day’s play with Suradit Yongcharoenchai and Jakraphan Premsirigorn trailing only Poom on the leaderboard, with both sharing second place with 11-under-par 133 in total.

“I’m playing on this golf course for the first time and to be able to post a 65 today is a really good achievement. It’s refreshing to see yourself be able to play well, especially when I missed so many cuts this year,” said Jakraphan.

Meanwhile, defending champion Justin Rose still managed to show some hints of his class, despite struggling with the strong winds at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club in East Jakarta.

Rose, who started the day by completing his first round after play on day one was suspended because of lightning, finished the second round with a score of 68, posting an overall total of eight-under-par 136 from the two rounds.

The Englishman said the wind made the second day’s play a bit trickier, adding that he felt that he did not make a good start to the round. Rose recorded two bogeys in the first nine holes on Friday.

“To play my last ten holes five-under-par was great. [I made a] couple of wrong choices of club from the tees. And I missed play line short into hole 16, just not enough focus,” he said, adding that he had noted Poom’s brilliant performance.

The home crowd favorite Danny Masrin, who was in the same flight as Rose and India’s Shubhankar Sharma, failed to find any consistency with his play down on his day one performance, when he shot two-under-par through hole 14 before play was suspended.

The 26-year-old Danny finished the first round with a one-under-par 71. He began the second round strong, with three birdies in the first six holes, but struggled thereafter recording a total of five bogeys to finish with a one-over-par 73.

Danny concurred with his competitors, saying the wind made play quite tricky, and that it was made worse but some of his missed putts.

“A lot of ups and downs today. I think the problem today was I couldn’t make maybe three to eight foot putts for par that would have saved my momentum. I got a little bit unlucky on a few holes like holes 7 and 5,” he said.

Play in the second round was also suspended, forcing Danny to wait until Saturday morning to find out if he makes the cut.

If Danny makes the cut, he will be the only Indonesian to advance after Rinaldi Adiyono shot a disappointing 77 in the second round after a making a promising start with a 68 in the first round.

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