Edfors shoots 68, keeps lead at Black Mountain Masters

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BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Sweden's Johan Edfors fired a 4-under-par 68 to retain his lead at halfway mark of the Asian Tour's $500,000 Black Mountain Masters on Friday.

Edfors, who shot an 8-under 64 on Friday, made five birdies after 17 holes of the second round and almost wrapped up two days without error before dropping a bogey on his final hole to finish at 12-under 132, three strokes ahead of Australia's Darren Beck (66) and Frankie Minoza of the Philippines (68).

"I played pretty solid today and took advantage of the par-5s same as yesterday," Edfords said. "The winds were swirling around a lot and made the approach shots a bit tricky. I really made a couple of errors on my back nine today. I made a scrappy bogey at my last hole but that's okay.''

Beck had two eagles and four birdies, only to sink a double bogey on the 16th at the Black Mountain Golf Club in the coastal resort of Hua Hin. The Australian is looking for his first top-10 finish from six Asian Tour events this year.

"I'll try to play the way I have been. There are a lot of birdies out there and I'll just try to avoid any high numbers and unnecessary bogeys," he said. "If I can keep shooting sub-70 rounds, I have a good chance to win."

Minoza mixed four birdies and one eagle before suffering back-to-back bogies on the 15th and 16th holes.

"I was hitting it very good except for the last few holes," he said. "I think I was getting a bit tired."

Australian Jason King finished a stroke back on 7-under 136 after a second round 68. South Korea's Noh Seung-il was five shots off the pace after hitting a round of 71, along with Australian Peter Cooke (70), South Africa's George Coetzee (70) and Thailand's Chapchai Nirat (68) who had an Asian Tour record 32-under to win the SAIL Open in India last weekend.