While he has yet to achieve his breakthrough on the Asian Tour, the 20-year-old Thai remains optimistic of his chances as he is coming into the week on the back of a rich vein of form with three top-six finishes in his last three events.

“I was very focused the last two days,” Phachara said. “I told myself not to get distracted and just concentrate on my game. Even when I made a mistake, I told myself to just forget it and move on. Just play better on the next hole.”

Starting his round on the 10th hole, Phachara stormed off the blocks quickly with two birdies in his opening three holes. He added another birdie on 16 before storming home with four more birdies to sign for a two-day total of 12-under-par 130 at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.

Overnight leader Detry beat fatigue to remain in contention by returning with a 68 to take second place while Thai rookie Kosuke Kamamoto also put himself in the mix by matching Phachara’s 64 for outright third place.

“I have not been feeling too well and I got tired towards the end of my round,” Detry said. “But I’m still happy with the way I finished. I was one-under at one point but managed to make some birdies to lift myself up back into the game again. I’m going to have a good night sleep now and be fresh for the weekend.”

Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-hsuan showed his promising talent when he carded a 67 to make his move up the leaderboard in the morning.

Wang turned professional only this year and showed he could be one of the rising stars to look out as he heads into the weekend tied for fourth.

The weekend cut was set at two-under-par with 84 players progressing into the final two rounds.