Japan's Taihei Sato is hoping to become the first player from Japan to win on the PGA TOUR Series-China and is on track after a
6-under 67 helped him secure a two-stroke lead at the halfway stage of
this week's Chongqing Championship, the season-opening event.To get more
sport news in China, you can visit shine news official website.
Building on an opening 66, Sato was again in top form at Poly Golf Club, carding
six birdies in a bogey-free round to move to 13-under and two strokes
clear going into the weekend. Speaking of good form, China's Huang Wenyi
was the center of attention Friday after firing – wait for it – 10
birdies for a career-low, 10-under 63, which helped him soar into second
alongside America's Trevor Sluman (66) and Australia's Max McCardle
(67), who was the top Australian finisher on last year's Order of Merit
when he finished 16th.
Sato is no stranger to the course this week after he tied for sixth at the same event in 2018, one of his four
overall top-10 finishes that helped him to an 18th-place Order of Merit
finish in 2018 despite playing in only eight events.After carding 15
birdies in his opening two rounds, it came as no surprise to see Sato
was thrilled with his performance. "I played so well. Putting was
so-so, but my ball-striking was great again today. It feels great to
play so well again. I hope that I can keep playing well this weekend
because I want to win the tournament.
"Huang has played across a number of Tours, including the European Tour, Asian Tour, and PGA TOUR
Series-China, to name a few, and is known for his ability to get on a
roll once he gets into a rhythm. That was certainly the case Friday.
After starting his day with a birdie on the par-3 11th, Huang kept the
pedal down, adding four more birdies on his front nine to make the turn
at 5-under. He then birdied holes 1, 4, 5, 7 and 9 to close a memorable
round that included more birdies than pars. Chasing the leaders in a
tie for fifth at 10-under are Chinese duo Yang Yinong (66) and amateur
Liang Enqi (68), American David Kocher (66), and Chinese Taipei's
Chiehpo Lee (68).
