Joint overnight leader David Smail could not mark his 41st birthday in style and slipped down the leaderboard after the second round at the Totoumi Hamamatsu Open on the Japan Golf Tour.
The former New Zealand No 1 looked to have rediscovered some of his best form with a 64 in the opening round but followed that up with a one-under par 71 in the second round that was punctuated with four bogeys and five birdies.
He sits at nine-under, tied for sixth, two shots behind leaders Sushi Ishigaki, Wen-Chong Liang and Hidemasa Hoshino.
Fellow New Zealander Richard Lee followed up his opening round of 67 with a second round of 71 to lie at six-under in a share of 23rd.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's Brad Shilton is tied for 41st after the second round of the OneAsia tour's SK Telecom Open in South Korea.
Shilton shot a two-over par 74, which contained four bogeys and two birdies, to mlie 11 shots off the pace set by South Korea's Sang-hyun Park.
- NZPA
Golf: Smail slips on Japan Tour
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