Overnight leader Nicklaus Chiam extended his advantage to two strokes with a solid second round of four-under-par 67 at the PKNS Selangor Masters.
The 30-year-old Singaporean nailed six birdies against two bogeys at Seri Selangor Golf Club for a two-day total of 11-under-par 131 (64, 67).
Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto carded a 68 to lie second on nine-under-par 133 (65, 68), while England’s Matt Killen and Thailand’s Poom Pattaropong were joint third on seven-under-par 135.
Khavish Varadan of Malaysia
Alone in fifth place on six-under-par 136 was Malaysia’s Khavish Varadan, who came home with a bogey-free five-under-par 66. Seven Malaysians made the cut, which was set at two-over-par – Khavish, 2022 champion Shahriffuddin Ariffin (-5), Galven Green (-3), Daeng Abdul Rahman (-2), Kenneth De Silva (-1), Sukree Othman (+1) and Seri Selangor ambassador Zia Izzuddeen (+1).
This isn’t the first time that Chiam is leading going into the final 36 holes of a professional tournament, although he can’t remember when was the last.
“I played steady golf, tried to minimise mistakes,” said Chiam. “ I’ll stick to the same gameplan tomorrow, shot-by-shot, hole-by-hole, but I’ll try and be aggressive when the opportunity arises.
“On this course, you have to keep the ball in play. If you’re going to miss the green, you have to miss it in the right place,” added the likeable player.
Leading Malaysian Khavish was pleased with his accuracy approaching the greens. “I was hitting my numbers. My goal is to hit as many greens as I can over the next two days. I love the layout,” he said.
The second round saw the tournament’s third hole-in-one, achieved by Kevin Akbar of Indonesia using a seven-iron at the par-three 8th hole — the same hole aced by Hamamoto and Canadian Henry Lee yesterday. It was Kevin’s first hole-in-one as a professional and third overall.
The round of the day belonged to Naoki Sekito, who matched the Seri Selangor low round of eight-under-par 63. The Japanese, who had a six-over 77 yesterday, carded an eagle and seven birdies against a lone bogey.
“Today I found more fairways and holed a few more putts, and that made the difference. After the 77, I wasn’t sure if I would make the cut, so I’m obviously super happy with today’s score,” said Sekito.
Two amateurs also progressed to the final 36 holes, making it on the number – Australian Josiah Edwards and Japanese talent Koshin Nagasaki, the winner of last week’s Selangor International Junior Golf Championship.
2025 champion Tawit Polthai of Thailand saw his title defence end as he missed out by one shot, following rounds of 72 and 73.
12-year-old Malaysian talent Raja Muhd Syakir was among the players who missed the cut. However, the highly-rated youngster was in high spirits as he soaked in the experience of playing in his first professional event with much gusto. A student of the PKNS Golf Academy, Syakir is a prolific winner in his age-group at junior events.
“The experience has been great, as I was able to meet and play with professional golfers. The professionals are very good in all parts of their game, and they are really precise in their practice. Hopefully I can learn from that,” said Syakir, who admires Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.
For the second year in a row, the US$175,000 tournament is the season-opening event of the 2026 Asian Development Tour (ADT). The field of 144 players is made up of 80 players from the ADT, 40 from the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour, and 24 invitees. With the top 10 players on the final Order of Merit earning Asian Tour cards for the following season, there is much incentive for the ADT players to do well this week and start their 2026 campaigns on a positive note.
This is the 13th staging of the PKNS Selangor Masters, which is promoted by PKNS Golf Management Services, a subsidiary of the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS). PKNS has been the title sponsor since 2022.
