Chowrasia shoots 62, surges to lead in Thailand Open

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PHUKET, Thailand -- India's S.S.P. Chowrasia showed a welcome return to form as he stormed to an eight-under-par 62 for the second round lead at the Singha Thailand Open on Friday.

Chowrasia

The Indian standout needed only 25 putts at the par-70 Laguna Phuket Golf Club to top the leaderboard on 12-under-par 128, one stroke ahead of talented Welshman Rhys Davies, who sank a magical hole-in-one en route to a 64 in the $500,000 Asian Tour event.

Young Indian Gaganjeet Bhullar is third after a 66 while Australian David Bransdon stayed in touch in fourth place following a 65.

Since winning the Indian Masters early last year for his career breakthrough, Chowrasia's form dipped due to a combination of factors, but a new putter has reignited his game.

"I've been practicing my putting a lot. It was very bad the last few weeks, but it's come good," said Chowrasia, who used a local caddie today after his regular bagman Pritan Sikia returned to India on Thursday following a family bereavement.

"I put a new putter in the bag last week. The old one was a bit shut, and this new putter has a loft which is two or three degrees more open. I was missing a lot of putts left previously," he said.

Chowrasia's bogey-free card was sprinkled with eight birdies but none was sweeter than the one on the eighth hole, his penultimate of the day, when he holed a wedge shot from 110 yards after finding trouble in the trees.

"It was good to get that birdie as I was struggling for par," said the 30-year-old Chowrasia, who is the son of a greenskeeper. "My putting is coming back and I'm driving it well. I'm confident of playing well this weekend."