SSP Chawrasia will take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the UBS Hong Kong Open after Matt Fitzpatrick tumbled down the leaderboard on the second day.
Fitzpatrick, who was looking to overcome a disappointing finish to last week’s DP World Tour Championship, began the day one shot behind overnight leader Chawrasia but struggled on Friday.
A double bogey on the first set the tone and bogeys on the ninth, 11th and 14th holes contributed to a round of three-over 73, sending him sliding down to a share of 26th place, now eight shots off the lead.
India’s Chawrasia continued to set a strong pace with just one blemish — a bogey on the 14th — on his scorecard as he went round in 66 to move to nine under for the tournament.
“It’s a great round today,” Chawrasia said on the European Tour website. “I was five under at one time and then three-putted number 14 but, still, it’s a good score four under — I’m happy.
“I’m just following my game. Same thing I’m playing the last two days, exactly the same strategy.
“Obviously I’m under pressure a little bit, pressure is always tough so I can manage, hopefully, the next two days.”
Chawrasia sits two shots clear of hard-charging Thomas Aiken, who had the best round of the tournament so far with a bogey-free 64.
“That was a little better, it was a fun round of golf,” Aiken said. “Just went out there with the same game plan as yesterday, hit some good-quality shots and really didn’t make many mistakes — that was the key.”
The South African has sole possession of second place, two shots clear of a four-man group at five under.
Ireland's Paul Dunne shot a second consecutive 71, to leave him two over par overall and just inside the weekend cut.
Tommy Fleetwood carded a 68 to join an eight-way tie for seventh that also includes Welshman Jamie Donaldson, whose round of 69 moved him to four under for the tournament.
English trio Justin Rose, Chris Hanson and James Morrison are part of a seven-man group one shot further back.
Hong Kong collated second round scores (UK unless stated, par 70):
(a) denotes amateurs
131 S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 65 66
133 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 64
135 Julian Suri (USA) 68 67, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 69 66, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 69 66, Poom Saksansin (Tha) 67 68
136 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 67 69, Micah Lauren Shin (USA) 67 69, Tommy Fleetwood 68 68, Jamie Donaldson 67 69, Keith Horne (Rsa) 67 69, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 68 68, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 65, Thomas Detry (Bel) 67 69
137 Haotong Li (Chn) 68 69, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 66 71, Justin Rose 68 69, Chris Hanson 71 66, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 69 68, Gavin Green (Mal) 69 68, James Morrison 71 66
138 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 68, Angelo Que (Phi) 67 71, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 67, Paul Peterson (USA) 70 68
139 Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 68 71, Paul Waring 71 68, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 71 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 69, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 69 70, Rashid Khan (Ind) 71 68, Danny Chia (Mal) 68 71, Sean Crocker (USA) 69 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 70, Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 71 68, Matthew Fitzpatrick 66 73
140 Harold Varner III (USA) 69 71, Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe) 69 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 68, Scott Hend (Aus) 73 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 71, Ryan Evans 71 69, Sam Brazel (Aus) 69 71, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 72 68
141 Ben Leong (Mal) 70 71, Rattanon Wannasrichan (Tha) 72 69, Siddikur Rahman (Ban) 70 71, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 72 69, Ashley Chesters 71 70, Chris Paisley 71 70, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72 69, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 69 72, Chien-Yao Hung (Tai) 72 69, Sam Chien (USA) 72 69
142 Steven Brown 72 70, Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 70 72, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 70 72, Panuphol Pittayarat (Tha) 73 69, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 71, Ashun Wu (Chn) 74 68, Mukesh Kumar (Ind) 72 70, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 71 71, Bradley Neil 71 71, Robert Rock 69 73, Scott Barr (Aus) 75 67, Paul Dunne (Irl) 71 71, (a) Leon D'Souza (Hkg) 72 70, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 73 69
The following players did not make the cut:
143 Pontus Widegren (Swe) 72 71, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 70 73, Lasse Jensen (Den) 73 70, Khalin Joshi (Ind) 69 74, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 72 71, Miguel Tabuena (Phi) 70 73, Chase Koepka (USA) 71 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 70, Sutijet Kooratanapisan (Tha) 70 73, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 71 72, Piya Swangarunporn (Tha) 72 71, Scott Vincent (Zim) 71 72
144 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 72, Wei-Chih Lu (Tha) 73 71, David Howell 75 69, Chiragh Kumar (Ind) 74 70, Natipong Srithong (Tha) 71 73, Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha) 71 73, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 74 70, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 73 71, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 71 73, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 74 70, S Chikkarangappa (Ind) 73 71, Soomin Lee (Kor) 75 69, Oliver Farr 69 75
145 Javier Colomo (Spa) 77 68, Daniel Im (USA) 72 73, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 73 72, Scott Fernandez (Spa) 75 70, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 74 71, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 71 74, Casey O'Toole (USA) 73 72, David Lipsky (USA) 75 70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 75, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 72 73
146 Anthony Kang (USA) 74 72, Daniel Brooks 80 66, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 75 71, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 74 72, Danthai Boonma (Tha) 70 76, Todd Sinnott (Aus) 71 75, Aaron Rai 73 73
147 David Drysdale 73 74, Lionel Weber (Fra) 72 75, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 73 74, Johannes Veerman (USA) 74 73, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 77 70
148 Shih-Chang Chan (Tpe) 75 73, Austin Connelly (Can) 75 73, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72 76, Oliver Fisher 72 76
149 Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 75 74, Nicholas Fung (Mal) 75 74
150 Alfie Plant 77 73
151 (a) Taichi Kho (Hkg) 76 75, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 76 75, James Stewart 76 75
152 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fij) 77 75
153 (a) Matthew Cheung (Hkg) 75 78
155 (a) Joshua Shou (Sin) 79 76
156 Woon Man Wong (Hkg) 78 78
160 Tirawat Kaewsiribandit (Tha) 82 78
