Jeev Milkha Singh was looking for a break alright, but certainly not forced one. After so many weeks on the road, the world No 77 very nearly got a chance to catch up with family and friends over the weekend.

Three-over for the day and more or less out of the reckoning to go through to the money-making rounds, Jeev needed to come up with something special on the closing par-five 18th hole. The 35-year-old Chandigarh pro, coming in as one of the favourites for the title, sank a birdie to barely make the halfway cut at the $500,000 Hero Honda Indian Open on Friday.

Sigh of relief

The golf buffs, and the sponsors more so, heaved a collective sigh of relief at the Delhi Golf Club. Jeev, who had a magical 2006 with four titles on three different Tours, will still get a chance to parade his talent over the next two days, but he is virtually out of the reckoning for top honours, placed 13 strokes off the pace at 146.

Barring a few, most Indians found the going tough on the second day of the Asian Tour event. But Taipei's Chang Tse-peng and Chapchai Nirat of Thailand made the most of ideal scoring conditions to share the lead at the halfway stage with a cumulative score of 11-under-par 133.

Having gone eleven years without a title, Chang shot a sizzling seven-under 65, while the long-hitting Nirat shot an equally gritty 67 to a take a one-stroke lead over Aussie David Gleeson (68).

Local pro Shamim Khan (69) was tied fourth with Korean Hur In-hoi on 137, while Rahil Gangjee, was the best Indian on view with a five-under 67, was tied sixth with American Gary Rusnak, a further stroke behind.

Defending champion Jyoti Randhawa (69) was tied eighth with four others, six strokes off the pace. That pack included overnight joint leader Gaurav Ghei (73) and SSP Chowrasia (71). Ghei couldn't uncork anything special on the day, nor did his compatriot Gurbaaz Mann (76).

Ali Sher misses cut

In all, 25 Indians made it to the weekend rounds, while former champions Thaworn Wiratchant and Ali Sher, and Hendrik Buhrmann, Marcus Both and Anthony Kang were some of the big names who missed the cut which was applied at two-over 146.

Winner of the ROC PGA Championship in 1996 as a 26-year-old, Chang was hailed as the next big thing in Asian golf. Unfortunately, the 37-year-old couldn't match his heroics thereafter. A distant cousin of former tennis star Michael Chang, the Taipei pro has been making some swing changes to get his game back on track.

Having opened the tournament with a 68, he proved on Friday that he is back with a bang. "I just kept the ball in play and focused on my second shots," Chang observed.

Brilliant approach

Except for two long putts, the rest of his five birdies were set up by brilliant approach shots. "I just plan to do the same over the next two days, just try and keep the errors to the minimum."

If not for a costly error on the fourth hole, Nirat would have been sitting alone atop the leaderboard. He found the greenside jungle with a poor sand-wedge second shot and made a double bogey six. But the Thai pro, fifth on the Order of Merit, didn't let that worry him too much and returned a 67 for a share of the lead.

Leading scores (after 36 holes): 133: Chang Tse-peng (Tpe, 68, 65), Chapchai Nirat (Thai, 66, 67); 134: David Gleeson (Aus, 66, 68); 137: Shamim Khan (Ind, 68, 69), Hur In-hoi (Kor, 66, 71); 138: Rahil Gangjee (Ind, 71, 67), Gary Rusnak (US, 71, 67); 139: Jyoti Randhawa (Ind, 70, 69), Unho Park (Aus, 70, 69), SSP Chowrasia (Ind, 68, 71), Danny Chia (Mal, 66, 73), Gaurav Ghei (Ind, 66, 73).