Higa strikes back with flawless 66

Kazuki Higa powered up the leaderboard at the Hero India Open following a fine second round on Friday.

Starting the day 10 shots off the pace, the 27-year-old bounced back with a brilliant six-under-par 66 at the DLF Golf and Country Club to lift him up to a share of eighth place.

Higa's blistering bogey-free effort contained six birdies, including three successive gains starting from the third hole.

Higa now sits shots adrift of Germany's Paul Yannik, who extended his overnight advantage by five shots over second-placed quartet Mikko Korhonen of Finland, Gudmundur Kristjansson of Iceland, Marcel Siem of Germany and India's Angad Cheema.

Another Japanese Masahiro Kawamura recovered from two bogeys in opening five holes to sign for a second successive 71 and be tied for 13th on two-under overall.

Ryo Hisatsune started so promisingly only to finish with a modest 71.

After birdieing four times to turn in 32, he dropped three shots including bogeys at the last two holes to reach the 36-hole mark in tied 39th on two-over.

Aguri Iwasaki, on the other hand, staged a remarkable comeback to safely advance into the weekend rounds.

After bogeying the opening two holes and making a quadruple bogey on the par-five fourth, Iwasaki battled back valiantly with birdies on six, nine and 12 to salvage a 75 and three-over aggregate.

Also made the cut were JGTO international members Shaun Norris of South Africa and Australia's Anthony Quayle.

Norris qualified in tied 24th on 144, while Quayle finished just above the cut line in joint 56th on 148.

The JGTO and DP World Tour will also join forces to hold the ISPS Handa Championship in April, making it the first-ever event to be co-sanctioned by the two prestigious circuits in Japan.

The US$2,000,000 tournament is slated for April 20-23 at the PGM Ishioka Golf Club in Ibaraki.