Chandigarh, 12-11-2021

Shiv Kapur and Rashid Khan tied at the top at halfway stage of Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational 2021 Presented by TAKE Sports

Aadil Bedi fires day’s best 65 to be placed third, Jeev Milkha Singh misses the cut

International winners Shiv Kapur and Rashid Khan were tied at the top at the halfway stage of the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational 2021 Presented by TAKE Sports being played at the Chandigarh Golf Club.

While Dubai-based Shiv (64-68) went bogey-free for the second day in succession with a four-under 68, Delhi-based Rashid (65-67) brought in a card of five-under 67 featuring seven birdies and two bogeys as both players enjoyed the joint second round lead at 12-under 132.

Chandigarh’s Aadil Bedi (68-65) shot the day’s best score of seven-under 65 to move up five spots to third place at 11-under 133.

The cut came down at even-par 144. Sixty professionals and two amateurs made the cut.

Tournament host Jeev Milkha Singh (75-72) missed the cut despite a steady even-par 72 in round two. He totaled three-over 147 for the week.

Shiv Kapur, who admitted to being rusty at the start of the week having not played a tournament for about a month, seemed to have shaken off the rust as he maintained his position as the joint leader for the second straight day.

The six-time international winner Kapur, who began his round from the 10th, had a scrappy start as he made pars on the first six holes. Shiv then found the hole from a range of seven to eight feet for his three consecutive birdies from the 16th through the 18th.

On the front-nine, Kapur was steady with eight pars and a lone birdie on the sixth where he sank his longest putt of the day, a 15-footer.

Kapur said, “I was a bit scrappy today especially on the first six holes as the conditions were a little different in the morning with the ball not travelling too far. It took some time adjusting to the different distances the ball was travelling. What I did well was make a number of par putts to keep the momentum of the round going.

“I’m happy to not have any blemishes on the card. Sometimes a par putt is as good as a birdie putt to keep the round going. The focus was to give myself a lot of chances.

“I’m still making a few mental mistakes out there having not played tournament golf for a while. However, if you told me before the start of the week that I’d be bogey-free through 36 holes, I’d take it in a heartbeat.”

Two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan jumped from overnight third to tied first. Rashid was one-under through the front-nine and then pushed ahead with a four-under on the back-nine. Khan attributed his low score to his good course management.  

Aadil Bedi’s 65 brought him into contention. Bedi, who has just recovered from a wrist injury which kept him out of action from three PGTI events in September, sank a 40-footer for birdie on the 15th and converted four more birdies from a range of 10 to 15 feet.

Delhi’s Kshitij Naveed Kaul produced a second consecutive 67 to occupy fourth place at 10-under 134.

Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha slipped from the overnight joint lead to tied fifth at nine-under 135 following his second round of 71.

Three-time Asian Tour winner Gaurav Ghei of Delhi was also tied for fifth as a result of his 68 on Friday.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (69) was the third Chandigarh player in the top-10. He was tied seventh at eight-under 136.

Olympian Udayan Mane (68) is tied ninth at seven-under 137.

Among the other marquee names in the field, former champion Ajeetesh Sandhu of Chandigarh was tied 11th at five-under 139 while another former champion Chikkarangappa of Bengaluru was a further shot back in tied 15th. SSP Chawrasia lies tied 18th at three-under 141.

Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar (70), the defending champion and PGTI Order of Merit leader, is placed tied 21st at two-under 142 along with Jyoti Randhawa.

Gaganjeet Bhullar was in tied 34th place at one-under 143.

The two amateurs to make the cut are Aryan Roopa Anand of Bengaluru who is tied 34th at one-under 143 and US-based Varun Chopra who is tied 51st at even-par 144.