Phuket, Nov 26 (PTI) Three birdies in the last four holes helped Karandeep Kochhar climb to Tied-15th with a two-under 70, making him the best-placed Indian golfer at the halfway stage of the USD one million Blue Canyon Phuket Championship here on Friday.

He was five-under through 36 holes at the Canyon Course at Blue Canyon Country Club.

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Kocchar, after a first round 69, was one-over for 14 holes when he found three birdies in last four holes.

Shiv Kapur, who had three birdies in the first six holes on the back nine had three other bogeys in his even par 72, was at Tied-23rd alongside Veer Ahlawat (70-70) at four-under.

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Viraj Madappa (69-72) was three-under and Tied-35th alongside Ajeetesh Sandhu (70-71) and S Chikkarangappa (68-73). Aadil Bedi made up for his first round 73 with a 69 and was T-56th.

Veteran Jeev Milkha Singh (71-72), youngsters Aman Raj (72-71) and Khalin Joshi (71-72) made the cut on the line, while SSP Chawrasia (70-74), Honey Baisoya (69-76), Rashid Khan (76-72), Udayan Mane (77-72) missed out.

Thailand's in-form young star Sadom Kaewkanjana equalled Australian Greg Norman's course record with an imperious eight-under 64.

It will, however, not be counted as an official record because preferred lies were played. Still it gave him the lead at the halfway mark.

Eight brilliant birdies ? three on the front, five on the back ? saw him move into the lead on 12-under, a stroke ahead of American John Catlin, the first-round leader, who shot 68.

Korean Sihwan Kim and Chinese-Taipei's Chan Shih-chang are a shot behind after rounds of 66 and 68 respectively in an event that marks the resumption of the Asian Tour's 2020-21 season, following a 20-month hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)