Panchkula, Haryana, 25-09-2013

Rahul Bajaj tops the leaderboard in round two

Bhasin posts day's best to climb to tied third

Rahul Bajaj of Noida followed up his superb first round effort of 67 with a sizzling 66 on day two to move to the top of the leaderboard at 11-under-133 at the PGTI Players Championship presented by Panchkula Golf Club. Chikkarangappa S of Bangalore carded a 69 on Wednesday to trail the leader by two strokes.

The cut came down at even-par-144. Fifty-two professionals made the cut.

Rahul Bajaj (67-66), who was overnight tied fifth, got off to a flying start in round two by sinking birdie putts from six feet on the 10^th and 12^th holes. The 27-year-old hit it out of bounds for the second straight day on the 14^th and had to concede a triple bogey there. Bajaj had bogeyed the same hole in round one. The Noida resident negated the effect of the triple bogey by picking up seven birdies over the remaining 13 holes.

“I stuck to a simple game-plan. I timed the ball really well and capitalized on all the par-5s. I’ve made only two errors in the first two rounds and both came on the 14^th. I managed to put behind the disappointment of the triple bogey with a brilliant approach from 200 yards on the 18^th that resulted in a tap-in for birdie. I made some good chip-putts today and sank a curling 20-footer for birdie on the ninth that helped me end the day in morale-boosting fashion,” said Rahul, who along with Rashid Khan, Abhijit Singh Chadha and Abhinav Lohan, was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.  

Chikkarangappa S (66-69), lying tied second after round one, had it all going against him in the initial stages of his round as he bogeyed the fourth and fifth and was also stung by a bee on his right ear while looking for his ball on the fifth. He then rallied with birdies on the sixth, seventh and eighth thanks to some quality wedge shots. Chikka’s bogey on the ninth was followed by birdies on the 11^th, 12^th and 15^th that helped him close the day in second position.

Chikka said, “I had a terrible start today as I was hitting it into the wind on the first few holes. However, I think getting stung by the bee on the fifth probably changed my luck as the birdies started coming thereafter. I found the green in two on the 12^th and 15^th, both par-5s, to set up two eagle opportunities. I couldn’t grab either opportunity and in fact missed an eagle from six feet on the 15^th. Nonetheless, I’m glad that even after a poor start, I managed to control things and shot a good number to stay in contention.”

Australian Kunal Bhasin (72-64) shot the day’s best score, a bogey-free 64, to leapfrog from overnight tied 42^nd to tied third at eight-under-136. Bhasin, who made four birdies and a quadruple bogey on day one, sank some long birdie putts in round two including one from 15 feet on the ninth and another from 25 feet on the 11^th.

Kunal, a two-time winner on the PGTI, said, “I putted well with help from my newly-acquired green-reading system. My ball-striking has also been good this week. I’ve had just one bad hole in two rounds and that was the first hole in round one, where I dropped a quadruple bogey after hitting it out of bounds. I’m making steady progress with my game as I’ve worked on my swing.”

Delhi golfers Shamim Khan (68-68) and Manav Jaini (66-70) and Kolkata’s Shankar Das (67-69) joined Bhasin in tied third place. Pune’s Rajiv Datar, Angad Cheema of Panchkula, Delhi golfer Siddharth Seth, Amardip Sinh Malik of Meerut and Gurgaon-based Abhishek Kuhar are in joint seventh at seven-under-137. 

Delhi’s Honey Baisoya (64-74), the overnight leader, slipped to tied 12^th place after shooting a 74 on day two that took his total to six-under-138.