Ireland's Padraig Harrington is well-placed to challenge for honours in the Malaysian Open, after a classy second round in Kuala Lumpur.
Harrington, who shot a four under par 68 on the opening day, continued his run of good form yesterday with 69.
After being overshadowed by their Asian counterparts in the first round, the Europeans fought back gamely in this jointly sanctioned event and Harrington is now in joint third place alongside Dane Steen Tinning and China's Zhang Lian-Wei, two shots behind the leader.
India's Arjun Atwal dropped a shot at the last but maintained his one-stroke lead to keep his sights firmly on the top prize of £80,000.
On Thursday, Atwal, the Indian Open winner, carded a 65 to steal the thunder from the European stars and followed up with a two-under-par 70 for a nine-under-par 135 aggregate at the Templer Park Country Club.
South African Nico van Rensburg fired the round of the day by carding a bogey-free 65 to jump into sole second place on 136. Welshman Mark Mouland, the best British performer on the first day of the event with a 67, carded a second round 78 to drop to equal 19th place.
135 - A Atwal (India) 65 70.
136 - N van Rensburg (SA) 71 65.
137 - P Harrington (Ire) 68 69, S Tinning (Den) 67 70, Zhang Lian-Wei (China) 66 71.
138 - S Hansen (Den) 71 67, Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 67 71.
139 - G Hutcheon (Brit) 72 67, G Norquist (US) 71 68, J Haeggman (Swe) 70 69, Ted Purdy (US) 67 72.
140 - A Cejka (Ger) 74 66, J Payne (Brit) 72 68, Taimur Hussain (Pak) 72 68, A Raitt (Brit) 70 70, S Dyson (Brit) 70 70, J-M Singh (India) 68 72, Thammanoon Sriroj (Thailand) 68 72.
