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The American's blemish-free second round also
put him in contention to win the PGA Tour event for the second
time in three years having also won the inaugural edition in
2017.
Thomas birdied his first four holes, picked up another shot on
the eighth before sinking four more birdies on the back nine at
Nine Bridges Golf Club to reach a 13-under 131 total.
Overnight leader and local favorite An Byeong-hun shot 69 to tie
for second spot with South Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee
(66) on 11-under.
"I didn't do anything unbelievably, it just was a very
stress-free day," Thomas said after his round.
"I think I hit every green and made a couple putts early. And
then the back nine, I got a few close to the holes where those
birdies came easier.
"So it just was a very easy 63 if you can somehow say that, but
hopefully we'll be able to keep some of that going for the
weekend."
The 26-year-old rated the 63 he registered two years ago at the
tournament as better than Friday's round.
"I'll take 63 on any conditions on any course any day, but it
was very, very benign out there," Thomas said. "There just
wasn't very much wind, which made it a lot easier to score.
"I felt like when I had control of the ball like I did today, it
made it quite a bit easier."
American Jordan Spieth (65) and Emiliano Grillo (66) of
Argentina were tied for fourth, four strokes behind Thomas in
the first tournament of PGA Tour's three-event Asian swing.
The Tour next heads to Japan for the inaugural Zozo Championship
before moving to China for the WGC-HSBC Champions.
Brooks Koepka's title defense appeared to be wilting with the
American world number one recording a three-over 75 in the
second round and falling 13 strokes behind the leader.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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