Shiv Kapur brought home three birdies against one bogey for a battling two-under-par 70 to move to five-under 211 and in tied 13th place at the halfway stage of the USD 7 million CIMB Classic here today.
The 31-year-old Indian star is eight shots behind the leader, American Keegan Bradley at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club's West course.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, currently third on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit, carded a 70 for tied 33rd place while Anirban Lahiri also shot a 70 for 42nd position.
Although eight behind the leader, Kapur is only four behind the second placed Ryan Moore, which gives him hope to make a move on the third day tomorrow.
"I played steady golf. I played just well, good golf. I could have been a little lower, but I made a few saves as well early in my round. I made a good par putt on the first and the third, so I kind of kept myself in there," said Kapur.
"I want to improve on that, but given the conditions and given everything and playing sort of late in the day when the greens are a little bit more chewed up and a little more grainy, I think that's a decent round. But obviously I'd like to do a couple better," he added.
The Indian knows finding the fairways at the challenging West course is key to a low round. He hit 10 fairways today, an improvement from his first round, but did not hit it close enough to the pins to convert the birdie chances.
"If you hit fairways, you give yourself a lot of birdie opportunities. Today they put a lot of flags on the front of the greens. With the greens firming up, it's tougher and tougher to get closer to the front pin," he said.
"When you have to be in the fairway, there is a big premium on hitting fairways here. So as long as you keep it in play, you give yourself a lot of birdie chances. It is the kind of course where you can get hot and go low. It comes down to putting like any other week. So you hit the fairway on a few putts and there are low scores to be had," said Kapur.
