Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rahman fired 6 under 66 to share the second round lead with Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai while local challenger Ajeetesh Sandhu was a stroke behind the leaders in the 8th Panasonic Open India at Delhi Golf Club on Friday.
Cut was applied at two over 146 and 74 golfers including 38 Indians made to o the money.
Overnight 66, Suradit returned a bogey-free five-under-par 67 but Siddikur, (overnight 67) joined him at the top with 66 as both aggregated identical 11 under 133. The Bangladeshi would have emerged the sole leader but for the two bogeys in a round in which he hit eight birdies
The golfer @ShivKapur62 strikes a perfect shot at Panasonic Open India, #Day2.#WhereitsAT pic.twitter.com/fG2V4DYVyS
— Panasonic India (@PanasonicIndia) October 26, 2018
“Nothing really different from yesterday. The fairways are still playing firm. The pin positions are pretty much like yesterday’s as well. I just want to play my game and focus on the tee shots, which are important if you want to play well on this course. If I can hit it good off the tee, everything will be easier. I need a little bit of luck on the greens this week as well” said the 20- year old Thai..
Siddikur was happy with his showing. “ I had another excellent day with eight birdies and two bogeys. Overall, it was still a wonderful round. I am happy because I played exactly the way I wanted to play.
Ajeetesh Sandhu who was tied with Siddikur and Tapy Ghai at tied 2nd place yesterday, carded yet another five under 67 to total 134 for third place-
“It was a much better round today as compared to round one. I hit it better even though I missed a few putts. I’m quite pleased about my effort “said Ajeetesh after his round.
Another local favorite Rashid Khan returned his second successive 4 under 68 card and with a total of 8 under 136 was at 5th place three strokes behind the leaders.
Between Ajeetesh, and Rashid Khan was Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond who was lying fourth with 9 under 135 (68,67).
Ace pro Jeev Milkha Singh rolled back the years by carding a bogey-free 68 to be at T6 along with five others including compatriot M Dharma (67) on 137 .
“I had a bogey-free round today. Made only one bogey in 36 holes so far. On this golf course, I’ll take this on any given day. I played really well. I drove the ball well. Everything was good. I had a lot of opportunities for birdies. You have got to take what comes your way.” Jeev said
My focus was good out there. I was very positive on the golf course as well. It’s very important to be positive, especially on this golf course. You got to stick to your routine as well and not get ahead of yourself.”
The roller coaster second round saw two debutants Kshitji Naveed Kaul and Yuvraj Sandhu carding six under 66 but while Kaul, who represented the the country in the Asian Games, moved into the next round T12.,Sandhu missed it by a whisker. His first round of 81 let him down as he aggregated one over 147.
Defending champion Shiv Kapur returned his second 2 under par 70 round and slipped from T16 to T21 place
Three other former champions-Mukesh Kumar, Chirag Kumar and Digvijay Singh- had contrasting round but they qualified for third round. Mukesh had five under 67 round and with a total of 138 (71,67) he climbed to T12 place. Chirag returned one under 71 and moved up to T36 place while Digvijay with one over 73 was tied at 53 place..
Tapy Ghai, overnight tied, hit par 72 and slipped to tied 15th place.