Malacca: England’s Peter Richardson took advantage of the near perfect conditions to post a seven-under-par 65 and grabbed the second round lead at the PGM ADT Masters at A’Famosa on Friday.

The Englishman mixed his card with eight birdies and one bogey for a two-day total of 12-under-par 132 to hold a five-shot lead over Malaysia’s Rashid Ismail who returned with a 70 at the A’Famosa Golf Resort in Malacca.

Japan’s Go Nakauchi and Korea’s Kim Ji-hoon signed for matching 139s to take a share of third place while Malaysia’s Hanafiah Jamil and R. Nachimuthu are bunched in equal fifth with Japan’s Kenichi Sawada on 140 at the RM180,000 (approximately US$60,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event, which is the third ADT event to be staged this season.

Richardson, who took part in this year’s Qualifying School but failed to make the cut, is playing in his third ADT event this season and is hoping for a grandstand finish so that he can realise his dream of playing on the Asian Tour.

“Every opportunity that I get to play in Asia brings me closer to my dream of playing on the Asian Tour. Everything is so well organised that I just have to focus on doing my best,” said Richardson.

“Today was almost a perfect day for me. I didn’t make too many mistakes and everything went my way. I’m hoping that this will continue through the weekend,” added Richardson.

Meanwhile Rashid, who took a share of the opening round lead, bemoaned his putting which he felt had let him down.

However, the Malaysian is confident that he can still mount a serious challenge for the title this week.

“I didn’t putt as well as I did as compared to yesterday. I missed a lot of birdie chances especially in my back-nine,” said the Malaysian.

“I still have a good chance as anything can happen. I’ll try to overcome my five-shot deficit tomorrow,” added Rashid.

Launched in 2010 with the aim of creating a career pathway for professional golfers in Asia, the ADT has gained support from Corporate Asia, growing its schedule from five tournaments in the first season to eight tournaments in the 2011 season.

The leading three players on the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit will earn coveted Asian Tour cards for the following season, ensuring a proper career pathway for aspiring professionals.

Leading second round scores
132 - Peter RICHARDSON (ENG) 67-65
137 - Rashid ISMAIL (MAS) 67-70
139- Go NAKAUCHI (JPN) 70-69, KIM Ji-hoon (KOR) 68-71
140 -Kenichi SAWADA (JPN) 72-68, R. Nachimuthu ( MAS) 71-69, Hanafiah JAMIL (MAS) 67-73