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Smith & Rominger lead as Ichihara tries to repeat success

Tatsuhiko Ichihara, after his maiden triumph in Japan last month, is determined to make the grade on the Asian Tour after a steady second round performance at the Qualifying School Final Stage on Thursday.

Ichihara, 28, admitted that he enjoyed his experience playing in Asia back in 1999 and the win on the Japan Golf Tour in November has only inspired him to try and claim success on the Asian Tour next year.

“I love to play here as the Asian Tour has a lot of events and is very competitive. After a memorable week in Japan last month, I hope deliver a similar performance in Asia so I am motivated to get my card here,” said the Japanese talent who shot a one-under-par 70 at the par 71 Pattana Golf and Sports Resort for a 142 total in tied 36th position.

India’s Ashok Kumar, who enjoyed two top-10 finishes at the Aamby Valley Asian Masters and the Pakistan Open this year, is now confident of meeting the mark this week as he aims to solidify his position in the region. He earned a conditional card for the 2006 season.

Malaysia’s Ben Leong, with the support of his father N.C Leong on the bag, improved with a 68 as he also stood in tied third position. Compatriot S. Sivachandran carded a similar score in joint 10th position on 139.

Switzerland’s Martin Rominger, the 2004 Swiss Amateur champion, was tied for the lead after his second straight 67 for a 134 total alongside Craig Smith, who is a first timer to Asia, as the Welshman scored a 66.

Australia’s Andy Martin narrowly missed the cut by one stroke when he shot a 77 for a 147 total in tied 104th place.

Only the top-40 and ties after four rounds will gain full playing privileges for next season.

Scores after two rounds:

1 -6 Craig SMITH Wales 68 66 134
1= -6 Martin ROMINGER Switzerland 67 67 134
3 -5 Troy KENNEDY Australia 65 72 137
3= -5 Ari SAVOLAINEN Finland 69 69 138
3= -5 Ashok KUMAR India 66 72 138
3= -4 Ben LEONG Malaysia 70 68 138
3= -4 Corey HARRIS USA 71 67 138
3= -4 LEE Won-Joon Australia 72 66 138
3= -4 Rafael LEE Canada 67 71 138
10 -4 Amardip MALIK India 70 69 139
10= -4 Edmund BARR Ireland 67 72 139
10= -4 HAN Lee USA 71 68 139
10= -4 Jim SEKI USA 69 70 139
10= -4 Jin PARK USA 66 73 139
10= -3 KIM Hye-Dong Korea 69 70 139
10= -3 MitchelL BROWN Australia 69 70 139
10= -3 S.Sivachandran Malaysia 71 68 139
10= -3 Taichiro KIYOTA Japan 68 71 139
19 -3 Brad ILES New Zealand 68 72 140
19= -3 HWANG Jae-Min Korea 68 72 140
19= -3 LIEN Lu-Sen Taiwan 70 70 140
19= -3 Mark BROWN New Zealand 69 71 140
19= -3 Mark MOULAND Wales 70 70 140
19= -3 Scott HEND Australia 67 73 140
19= -3 Stephen SCAHILL New Zealand 67 73 140
26 -3 Ashley HALL Australia 68 73 141
26= -3 Eddie HEINEN USA 67 74 141
26= -2 Gavin FLINT Australia 72 69 141
26= -2 Neven BASIC Australia 70 71 141
26= -2 PARK Se-Woong Korea 71 70 141
26= -2 Piya CHAIYAPONG Thailand 72 69 141
26= -2 Scott G. JAMIESON Scotland 66 75 141
26= -2 Shane BAXTER Australia 70 71 141
26= -2 Simon DUNN Scotland 68 73 141
26= -2 Ty PUEKDANG Thailand 69 72 141
36 -2 Alex OH Korea 72 70 142
36= -2 Ben St JOHN England 72 70 142
36= -2 Cookie LAO' Philippines 68 74 142
36= -1 David GLEESON Australia 71 71 142
36= -1 Eiji MIZOGUCHI Japan 71 71 142
36= -1 Gaganjeet BHULLAR India 69 73 142
36= -1 Gerald ROSALES Philippines 71 71 142
36= -1 Gustav ADELL Sweden 71 71 142
36= -1 HSIEH Tung-Shu Taipei 74 68 142
36= -1 Jaakko MAKITALO Finland 73 69 142
36= -1 Marlon DIZON Philippines 76 66 142
36= -1 NAM Young-Woo Korea 68 74 142
36= -1 Peter KARMIS South Africa 72 70 142
36= -1 S MURTHY Malaysia 73 69 142
36= -1 Scott TAYLOR USA 74 68 142
36= -1 Tatsuhiko ICHIHARA Japan 72 70 142
36= -1 Tony LASCUNA Philippines 70 72 142
53 53 CHOI Joon-Woo Korea 71 72 143
53= -1 Darren GRIFF Canada 71 72 143
53= -1 HSU Mong-Nan Taipei 71 72 143
53= -1 Jochen LUPPRIAN Germany 77 66 143
53= Par Leigh MCKECHNIE Australia 69 74 143
53= Par LIN Chien-Bing Taipei 72 71 143
53= Par Matthew WOODS England 76 67 143
53= Par Peter EROFEJEFF Finland 70 73 143
53= Par Peter FOWLER Australia 71 72 143
53= Par Ron WON USA 74 69 143
53= Par Ross BAIN Scotland 70 73 143
53= Par Rowan BESTE Australia 70 73 143
53= Par Roy MOON USA 71 72 143
53= Par Shigemasa HIGAKI Japan 74 69 143
67 Par CHEN Chung-Cheng Taipei 70 74 144
67= Par Chris KAMIN USA 71 73 144
67= Par Gurbaaz MANN India 72 72 144
67= Par HUR In-Hoi Korea 67 77 144
67= Par Jarrod MOSELEY Australia 74 70 144
67= Par Jason KING Australia 75 69 144
67= Par Mikael DETTERBERG Sweden 68 76 144
67= Par Nathan MAIN Australia 72 72 144
67= Par Neil PRICE England 74 70 144
67= +1 Olle NORDBERG Sweden 73 71 144
67= +1 Richard MOIR Australia 77 67 144
78 +1 Carito VILLAROMAN Philippines 70 75 145
78= +1 Choengchai PANPUMPO Thailand 72 73 145
78= +1 CHUNG Sung-Han Korea 75 70 145
78= +1 Firoz ALI India 73 72 145
78= +1 Guido VAN DER VALK Holland 72 73 145
78= +1 Hanafiah JAMIL Malaysia 73 72 145
78= +1 Hironori YOSHIDA Japan 74 71 145
78= +1 HONG Chia-Yuh Taipei 72 73 145
78= +1 James MORRISON England 68 77 145
78= +1 Rohit CHAUDHARY India 70 75 145
78= +1 Steven TAN Malaysia 73 72 145
78= +1 Sujjan SINGH India 69 76 145
78= +1 Vikrant CHOPRA India 73 72 145
78= +1 Wittawat SAE-UNG Thailand 76 69 145
92 +1 Chaipat DARAPANICH Thailand 74 72 146
92= +1 Chan SONG Korea 72 74 146
92= +1 CHAN Yih-Shin Taipei 68 78 146
92= +1 CHANG Hong-Wei Taipei 73 73 146
92= +1 Chiragh KUMAR India 70 76 146
92= +1 David KWON Korea 74 72 146
92= +2 M.Sasidaran Malaysia 74 72 146
92= +2 Michael BALL USA 72 74 146
92= +2 Simon GRIFFITHS England 72 74 146
92= +2 Steve PARRY England 71 75 146
92= +2 Tetsuya KOYAMA Japan 75 71 146
92= +2 Vivek BHANDARI India 75 71 146
CUT
104 +2 ANDY MARTIN Australia 70 77 147
104= +2 Elmer SALVADOR Philippines 70 77 147
104= +2 HelmiYUSOF Malaysia 74 73 147
104= +2 Jerome DELARIARTE Philippines 74 73 147
104= +2 KIM Jee-Woong Korea 74 73 147
104= +2 LU Chien-Soon Taipei 75 72 147
104= +2 Lucas PARSONS Australia 76 71 147
104= +2 Rafael PONCE Ecuador 73 74 147
104= +2 Robert HAMILTON USA 76 71 147
104= +2 T.J. KIM Korea 75 72 147
104= +2 Tim MOODY USA 71 76 147
115 +2 Artemio MURAKAMI Philippines 70 78 148
115= +2 Derek FUNG Hong Kong 77 71 148
115= +2 Jaiveer VIRK India 74 74 148
115= +3 Joe TEMPLER England 76 72 148
115= +3 JOON CHOI Korea 77 71 148
115= +3 Kevin CHUN New Zealand 78 70 148
115= +3 Mark PURSER New Zealand 73 75 148
115= +3 Matthias ANDERSSON Sweden 74 74 148
115= +3 Nick REDFERN England 76 72 148
115= +3 Nicola MAESTRONI Italy 75 73 148
115= +3 Rey PAGUNSAN Philippines 74 74 148
115= +3 Shaifubari MUDA Malaysia 73 75 148
115= +3 Sushi ISHIGAKI Japan 75 73 148
115= +3 Juha PELTOMAKI Finland 77 72 149
128 +3 Karanjit SINGH India 72 77 149
128= +3 LEE Ju-Il Korea 75 74 149
128= +3 LU Wen-Hsyong Taipei 73 76 149
128= +3 Pasamet POGAMNERD Thailand 71 78 149
128= +3 Pijit PETCHKASEM Thailand 76 73 149
128= +3 Ross MCGOWAN England 72 77 149
128= +4 Sattaya SUPUPRAMAI Thailand 74 75 149
128= +4 Siriwong SUWANNASRI Thailand 73 76 149
128= +4 Tomoo BISE Japan 77 72 149
138 +4 A.S. LEHAL India 73 77 150
138= +4 Alex BELT England 73 77 150
138= +4 Gary OLIVER England 75 75 150
138= +4 Greg BRUCKNER USA 75 75 150
138= +4 Satoshi SHIMOUCHI Japan 76 74 150
138= +4 Steven JONES Australia 78 72 150
138= +4 WONG Woon-Man Hong Kong 77 73 150
138= +4 Yoshinobu TSUKADA Japan 75 75 150
146 +4 Albert PISTORIUS South Africa 72 79 151
146= 146= Corey TAYLOR Australia 75 76 151
146= +5 James SHEFFIELD England 78 73 151
146= +5 Lawrence DODD England 73 78 151
146= +5 Pol KEMMARAT Thailand 73 78 151
146= +5 Shukree OTHMAN Malaysia 73 78 151
152 +5 Amit DUBE India 77 75 152
152= +5 Anthony BROWN Australia 71 81 152
152= +5 Darren ROBSON England 75 77 152
152= +5 JIN Yong-Gab Korea 82 70 152
152= +5 Jonathan EVANS England 74 78 152
152= +5 LIEN Chi-Wei Taipei 76 76 152
152= +6 Matti MERILAINEN Finland 78 74 152
152= +6 Vatin VONGSURAKRAI Thailand 78 74 152
160 +6 Gavin HILLS Australia 77 76 153
160= +6 KIM Sung-Yoon Korea 81 72 153
162 +6 Brad OH Korea 72 82 154
162= +6 KANG Min Woong Korea 81 73 154
164 +6 KIM Dae-Yong Korea 79 76 155
164= +6 Pornpong PHATLUM Thailand 73 82 155
164= +7 Vishal SINGH India 78 77 155
167 +8 Charles DUBOIS France 75 82 157
167= +8 Rajiv Niranjan DATAR India 80 77 157
169 +9 Glenn JOYNER Australia 81 77 158
170 +9 LU Tze-Shyan Taiwan 83 82 165
171 +9 Faridil ATRAS Malaysia 78 89 167
172 +9 Eric YUNUS Indonesia 83 85 168
173 +10 KIM Kwang-Tae Korea 80 WD
174 +12 KIM Su-Hong Korea 71 WD
175 +12 Stephen LINDSKOG Sweden 75 RTD

December 14, 2006