Danthai Boonma and Chapchai Nirat built a two-stroke lead over a chasing pack including Sergio Garcia and Ryo Ishikawa, who are their closest rivals midway through the third round of the weather-interrupted Singapore Open.
The Thai golfers were locked together at nine under on Saturday when play was suspended at the Sentosa Golf Club for the third day in a row because of lightning strikes in the area.
Masters champion Garcia and former teen prodigy Ishikawa were among seven players leading the chase at seven under on a heavily congested leaderboard.
Garcia, one of 78 players who returned to the course just after dawn to complete their second rounds, was on the 10th hole of his third round when the warning siren was sounded to abruptly end play for the day.
"Let's see if we can finish the round, that will be nice," he said.
"But I think if I can play four under I should have a chance."
The Spanish golfer credits the Singapore Open as having played a part in toughening him up for his first major championship title at Augusta National because of the stifling humidity in southeast Asia and the testing stop-start nature of the tournament.
Although he finished tied for 11th in Singapore, Garcia won the Dubai Desert Classic the subsequent week and was in peak form when he won the Masters two months later.
He is feeling confident of his chances of success this weekend.
"I felt like I hit the ball Okay," Garcia said.
"My putting and all went great but my speed hasn't been great on this green so let's see if I can be a little more aggressive on the rounds this weekend."
Ishikawa moved into a share of the lead at the halfway stage after firing a second round of five-under 66 that featured eight birdies.
He birdied the first two holes of his third round to grab the outright lead but slipped back with a double-bogey at the tricky third hole for the third day in a row.
He dropped another shot at the par-five sixth when he drove into a fairway bunker.
"It was a short night but I had a good sleep and just putted well," Ishikawa said.
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