The Thai known as ‘TK’ sits alongside Wooyoung Cho of Korea at nine-under, with Aussies Karl Vilips and Harrison Crowe in a four-way tie for fourth a shot further back.

With 36 holes still to play, and the course expected to be longer and tougher over the weekend after the developing nation players have packed their bags, plenty of players still have their eyes on the trophy and starts at The Masters and The Open next year. However, it was Chantananuwat who played the role of protagonist early on Friday at Amata Spring.

Waking up with a sore neck, the Asian Tour winner was noticeably agitated by the injury throughout his round as he repeatedly felt the spot, his father/caddie even rubbing the area as he made his way around the front nine, his second nine of the day.

His play was similarly not to his liking at times, but the pain and frustration was quickly forgotten when he drained a putt from around 50 feet for eagle at the par-5 7th immediately after birdie at the 6th.

Jin remains at the top of the leaderboard through two rounds, but there are plenty of well-credentialed players in the chasing pack. PHOTO: Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.

The adrenaline, and youthful exuberance, seeing ‘TK’ charge to the long par-3 8th tee before his playing partners had putted out to reach four-under for the day.

“I think shooting four-under today would be beyond a miracle,” he said after the round. “I woke up with probably the worst injury I could ever get. My neck has never hurt me. I wasn't even going to take a practice swing. I could just stare at the ground and I couldn't look up. I think for a day like that, anyone would have withdrawn or shoot in the mid-80s, so I'm really proud of myself.”

There were to be no more birdies over his final two holes, but the 12th ranked player in the men’s amateur game was confident a rare afternoon off would be just the tonic having worked on his putting into the darkness on Thursday.

“I'm not touching my golf clubs today,” Chantananuwat said. “I'm driving back home to do some physical therapy.”

Whereas Chantananuwat appeared to want to talk with anyone and everyone after his round and give great detail on how he was feeling, Jin is a far quieter and stoic sort of man.

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Sharing third at this event last year, the World No.46 got to 11-under with one hole to play, the Chinese player making a bogey five at the 9th to record a three-under 69 that means he will once again lead on his own.

“I think I did everything pretty well. I just made a couple of bad mistakes,” 20-year-old Jin said after the round. “You know, in golf, bad shots happen too. I think overall to shoot 69 here on this golf course, you have to play good overall so I think I did everything pretty good today.”

There were no shortage of chances late in the day of players potentially joining Jin at the top, or at the least sitting alongside Chantananuwat and Cho, including Singapore’s James Leow who three putted 18 to finish on eight-under, and Crowe who also bogeyed the last.

The reigning NSW Amateur and Open Champion made five birdies over his opening 11 holes and let out an excited fist pump after par on the 12th. More birdies were to come at 15 and 17 to take him to a share of second on nine-under, but a drive finding the water will see him start Saturday two back.

RIGHT: Karl Vilips shares leading Aussie honours at eight-under-par alongside Harrison Crowe. PHOTO: Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.

“I found a couple of things to tighten up the driver yesterday afternoon, and had it going well fairly early,” Crowe told this publication.

“I would be lying if I said I was confident over that tee shot for sure. Just tried to squeeze one up there, thought I hit it good but it turned the other way. Thought I hit a mint putt and was about to take a big forward step and it grazed.

For his part, Vilips feels there is lower scores coming his way after failing to get the most out of how well he has hit the ball all week, but still sit only two back of the lead.

“I made less mistakes than yesterday, it felt like,” Vilips told Golf Australia magazine. “Put it in play a little more and just couldn’t really get any putts to go in. I took advantage of the par-5s, exactly what I should do. The low scores are coming, which is nice.

“I feel like I am playing really well and a few good rolls and a couple more feet on my putts away from a really good number.”

Of the remaining Aussies, Josh Greer is at four-under, Connor McKinney a shot further back with Hayden Hopewell and Jeffrey Guan both on two-under.

Lukas Michel was the only of the seven to fail to make the cut of even par after finishing at three-over.