XIAMEN, China, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Hirai Ami moved to the top of the leaderboard at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Orient Masters on Friday when the Japanese posted a bogey-free round to catch overnight leader Aunchisa Utama of Thailand through two rounds in Fujian province.
With the weather akin to peak summer conditions at the 800,000-yuan (112,360 US dollars) China LPGA Tour event at Orient (Xiamen) Golf and Country Club, Ami (69) and Aunchisa (70) were on eight-under 136 after 36 holes.
Malaysian veteran Aretha Pan (70) was two strokes back after carding a hole-in-one at the 143-yard 12th hole, tied for equal third with China's Sui Xiang (70), South Korean Park Jin-hee (71) and Thai Ornnicha Konsunthea (69).
Ami, who is playing in her first year on the CLPGA Tour, started her round on the Orient (Xiamen) back nine one shot off the lead. After four straight pars to start she picked up her first birdie at the 397-yard 14th (her fifth hole).
Making the turn at six-under, she then registered consecutive birdies at the first and second holes (her 10th and 11th holes) before posting a string of pars back to the clubhouse in a bogey-free round.
"I had three birdies without any bogeys. The score is higher than yesterday, but this is my second bogey-free round which made me happier. I made a 35-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole, which seemed to open the floodgate for me. I had two more birdies since then," said the 23-year-old from Tokyo.
"I will keep the same aggressive strategy in the final round because it worked for the past two days."
Aunchisa also started the day on the back nine and kept herself in the hunt for her first CLPGA Tour win with a round that featured four birdies, including two in her first four holes, and two bogeys.
"I started off well with a birdie on my first hole (the 10th hole). It was about 15 yards and I was just trying to get it close to the pin and it went in. At the fifth hole (her 14th hole), I putted from just off the green about 10 yards and it went in. But my driver was not that good so I had a lot to fix along the way," said the Lop Buri native who has one career win on the Thai domestic tour.
"I think I have played with Ami once before. But tomorrow, if I am going to win, I need to be focused on my own game."
With the top six players on the leaderboard all chasing their maiden international win, veteran Pan said she was happy to be in the conversation with her first-ever hole-in-one that came from a blast of her eight-iron.
"I have never had such a great feat, even in a practice round, until today. I was really happy and screamed out," said the 25-year-old Kota Kinabalu native. "I watched the whole process. The ball landed three yards short of the pin and rolled into the Cup."
Sui, who has been playing primarily on the South Korean development tour this year, got off to a rough start when she three-putted the 534-yard second hole for a bogey six.
"I lost my temper with the three-putt then I settled down and had a pair of long birdies and had a lucky chip-in birdie. I would like to say this is another good day," said the 25-year-old Guangdong native. "I will play from the penultimate group in the final round where you would face much less pressure. Hopefully, I can play another solid round."
Fan Shuangshuang was the top amateur as the 14-year-old from Chongqing shot an even-par 72 to sit four strokes back in equal eighth.
