June 5: Settee Prakongvech (main picture) came to the US$500,000 am green IGPL Bharath Classic having missed cuts in each of his last five starts. But on a windy day that tested the Asian Tour field at the oceanside Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort, the Thai player found himself on top of the leaderboard following a sublime seven-under-par 65 round on Friday.

Settee shot the best round of the morning tee times, and added to his 70 in the opening round Thursday, he moved to nine-under total at the halfway stage.

Compatriot Ekpharit Wu, winner of the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open last year, showed his love for windy golf courses once again, shooting a 67 and tying for second place in the clubhouse alongside Austrian Niklas Regner (72) at six-under.

Indian teenager Kartik Singh (69) moved up to five-under total alongside Karandeep Kochhar (73), who was the best-placed player from the co-sanctioning partners Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL), Philippines’ Lloyd Jefferson Go (71) and American MJ Maguire (70).

Ekpharit Wu of Thailand. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

Overnight leader Runchanapong Youprayong was among the players playing in the afternoon session.

While some of the players spoke about the two-to-three club wind as the day progressed, Settee seemed to be playing in a bubble of his own. He made four birdies on the front nine, and as the wind picked up further, he added three more on the back nine. That included a birdie on the long par-4 fourth hole that Settee said “felt like an eagle”.

“I think that I am a better player in the wind because I hit it low. So, it’s not affecting my ball flight too much,” said the 31-year-old, who is yet to win on the Asian Tour.

“I just started to play better. Everything came together. I hit a lot of fairways and hit some good approach shots. And, I was lucky to have made some putts. They weren’t easy putts, but I just tried my best and made them.”

Ekpharit started from the 10th tee and made just one bogey – on the par-four sixth hole late in his round. But he more than made up for that with a birdie on his closing hole, the ninth.

“Today overall was very good for me, because I can handle these conditions, so I’m happy for that,” said Ekpharit. “I felt like I had more power, more energy, today. I think it’s because I take a lot of rest.

“I have this one thing… like I trust the wind to be a friend before going out to play on courses like this. That is very helpful.

“And yes, that birdie on the ninth was probably my best of the day. I made a long putt, about 20 feet, and I’m very happy about that one.”

Karandeep Kochhar of India. Picture by Chris Symes/Photosport.

Regner, winner of an ADT event in the African continent last year, made four birdies, but lost that advantage with four bogeys.

“It wasn’t as good as yesterday. I would say even the wind was not picking up as much as yesterday in the first few holes, but it was quite strong in the last few holes. The pins were also a little bit more tucked on the greens, so yeah, overall, I’m happy with minus six after two rounds,” he added.

Kochhar, who also won an ADT event in Egypt last year to regain his card on the Asian Tour, was disappointed with two late birdies on the fourth and ninth holes.

“I got a little unlucky on the last. Just had a small putt of four-odd feet. I thought I hit a good putt, but it just went the other way. Definitely, don’t want to finish with a three-putt on the last, but I still think I played really well today. May be, missed two small putts coming in,” said Kochhar, who sank a long 30-footer putt for birdie on the 17th hole.

“Would have loved to have those two short putts back, but other than that, I’m not too concerned. The putting actually has been very good because I’ve worked on it a lot over the weekend on it.”

The tournament, which forms part of the Asian Tour’s three-week visit to Morocco, is co-sanctioned by IGPL. After back-to-back tournaments at Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort, built on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, the Asian Tour will move to Rabat next week for the US$2 million International Series Morocco presented by Visit Morocco.