After a flashy 68 in the first round, Amanda Tan could only come up with an even par 72 in the second yesterday for a combined 140. Yet the Singaporean retained a healthy lead in the Ladies European Tour pre-qualifier at the Angkor Golf Resort in Siem Reap as her nearest rival dropped out of sight.

Bogies at the first two holes and a birdie in the third marked a somewhat patchy start, but the bespectacled Tan steadied herself with par scores over the next 10 holes. She blew up at the next two but regained some poise before signing off the round with a par 72.

In second, three strokes behind Tan overnight, Paige Stubbs of Australia completely lost her way, and her five bogies, one of them a double, dented her scores, and despite three birdies in that mixed bag, she ended up with three over 75 for an overall 146, which dropped her down the leader board to fifth.

Moving up to within four strokes of the leader was Japan’s Ayaka Nakayama who shot a second round 71 on top of her 73.

Tied with Nakayama on 144 were Jackie Chulya of Thailand (73 and 71) and Isabella Leung of Hong Kong (72 and 72).