Happy Phatlum maintains lead

GURGAON, March 27: The sunny smile wasn���t veiled by dark discontent when the flight was cut short by bogeys. Thailand���s winsome Pornanong Phatlum, instead, resolved to finish the final hole with a birdie even after landing in the greenside hazard. Another bogey was her reward, but still no grimace. ������I am nevertheless happy,������ she remarked as another two-under par round, which included an eagle on the par-5 6th, ensured a two-stroke advantage on top of the leaderboard after the penultimate round of the DLF Women���s Indian Open.
It was Chun Wang who made the giant strides on Thursday, locking up a three-under lopsided card.Starting from the 10th tee, the girl from Beijing was staring at an ordinary day, making the turn at two-over but must have felt like she was monarch of all she surveyed as she retrieved a birdie on the 1st and finished with a flourish, sizzling the greens with four birdies on the final four.
Accompanying them in the leadergroup on Friday would be Kyoto resident Yuki Sakurai, who produced one of the four sub-par cards of the day. Three strokes behind Phatlum, the Ladies European Tour member downplayed her chances, but vowed to let her clubs do the talking on the greens.
Simi Mehra is easily the most loquacious on the course, but her putter failed to obey her dictates on several occasions. Three birdies were overturned by four bogeys, and her two-over aggregate placed her in sole 9th place, six adrift of the leader. If Irina Brar was expected to make some headway after a casual Wednesday, a recurrence of her back injury put paid to her efforts as she could hardly bend to make her putts. Three bogeys and one double on the last four holes added more misery as she struggled to a 9-over for the day.
Leading Round Two scores: 140: Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 70-70; 142: Wang Chun (Chn) 73-69; 143: Yuki Sakurai (Jpn) 73-70; 144: Shih Huei Ju (Tpe) 72-72, Jaya Lydia Ivana (Ina) 71-73; 145: Wei Yun Jye (Tpe) 74-71, Jenni Kuosa (Fin) 71-74, Nontaya Sirisawang (Tha) 73-72; 146: Smriti Mehra (Ind) 73-73; 147: Nam Min-ji (Kor) 75-72, Chen Kuan Pei (Tpe) 75-72, Hsien Yu Ling am (Tpe) 75-72, Rungthiwa Pangjan (Tha) 74-73.