American ace Peter Uihlein enters the weekend of International Series Thailand holding the halfway lead, attempting to add to his breakthrough victory at International Series England in August.
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A day after he said he feels he has an outside chance of claiming The International Series Rankings if he wins this week, Uihlein pulled out all the stops, shooting an eight-under-par 62 to lead on 14-under by one from Australian Maverick Antcliff.
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Antcliff carded a 64 and is one ahead of Christian Banke from the United States, who also returned a 62, here at Thai Country Club in Bangkok – in a US$2 million event that is helping to bring the season to a thrilling climax on the Asian Tour and The International Series.
Uihlein’s firepower off the tee was once again a huge advantage as he made nine birdies and a solitary bogey.
He said: “Sometimes boring golf can be fun, I guess. So, yeah, I’ve driven it nice the last two days, so have had a lot of wedges and irons from the fairways, greens are soft and receptive. So, I’ve played nice.”
He is very aware that he will need to continue to go low at the weekend if he is to stay on top.
“You probably can’t go even, even, I can tell you that,” joked the American, whose win in England was his first on the Asian Tour.
“So, you are going to have to keep going low, and it all just depends what the wind does. We kind of played with a totally different way today than we did yesterday, so it’s kind of fun to see the course with a different direction. But it kind of felt like it maybe made it a little bit easier, so we’ll see what the wind does, and how it plays tomorrow.”
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The 35-year-old is third on The International Series Rankings, 362.78 points behind the leader, his countryman John Catlin with five events remaining including this week. On the Asian Tour Order of Merit he is in seventh place, several thousand points back from Catlin – a gap that he knows he can’t close.
Antcliff started today in a share of the lead with compatriot Jed Morgan and Sweden’s Charlie Lindh but left them trailing in his wake with four birdies on the front nine before adding two more on the homeward stretch. He is bogey-free for two days.
The 31-year-old from Brisbane was quick to point out that on a course with few defences, it is mainly about performing well with the putter.
“The course is not overly long and you’re going to have a lot of opportunities,” said the Australian, who mentioned his name is Maverick, “Coz dad liked Top Gun”.
“Obviously the course is limited to only two par fives, but if you can just hit good putts, you should probably have a low score.”
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It has been a solid season for him so far and he’s well placed on the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 27th place, although he missed the cut at last week’s Black Mountain Championship and will no doubt be looking to make amends for that this weekend.
Antcliff made it through the Asian Tour Qualifying School this year, which he also did in 2018.
Banke, who also made it through Qualifying School back in January, has also yet to drop a shot and is grateful for having a very special caddie.
He explained: “I actually have a college teammate that’s caddying for me, Puwit Anupansuebsai, and honestly, I have him read the putts, and I just hit it. So, yeah it was good, we worked well together, and everything was dropping today.”
The duo were teammates at San Diego State and Banke adds: “He’s awesome. I mean, he drives me around, he translates for me, he orders the right food. It’s great to have him.”
Puwit also still plays the Asian Development Tour and the All Thailand Golf Tour.
Chinese-Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po fired a 65 and is in fourth with countryman Chan Shih-chang, in with a 66, three behind the leader along with two of Thailand’s young sharpshooters David Boriboonsub and Sadom Kaewkanjana and Mexican Santiago De la Fuente, who carded matching 65s.
