SANYA, China, March 16 (UPI) -- Chapchai Nirat tied the 36-hole tournament record and owns a six-stroke lead halfway through the TCL Classic golf tournament in China.
Nirat set a course record with his first-round 11-under-par 61 and came back Friday with a six-under-par 66, for a 17-under total that equaled the 36-hole record set last year by David Howell.
Adam Blyth, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, David Bransdon and Simon Nash all matched Nirat's 66 on Friday and are tied with Rafael Echednique, who shot 69 in his second round, for second place at 11-under-par 133.
The Yalong Bay Golf Club was playing relatively easy and the 36-hole cut was at five-under-par 139.
Nirat had birdies on two of his first three holes but posted his first bogey of the tournament on the par-four fourth. He got that stroke back on No. 7. He strung together five pars before getting birdies at Nos. 13 and 14.
He pulled even with Howell's record with an eagle at the par-five 16th and pared in for the record and the six-stroke lead.
