Seongnam, Korea, 06-05-2022

Viraj Madappa shoots day's best 65 featuring a hole-in-one to rise 37 spots to tied fourth in round two of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open

Anirban Lahiri tied 38th after round one of Wells Fargo Championship

Viraj Madappa (71-65) inspired by a hole-in-one, shot a six-under 65, the day's best score, to sit one shot behind the lead in tied fourth place after round two of the Maekyung Open on the Asian Tour being played in Seongnam, Korea.

Madappa’s total stood at six-under 136 at the Namseoul Country Club.

The three-way lead was shared by the Korean trio of Bio Kim, Dongmin Lee and amateur Minhyuk Song at seven-under 135.

Viraj made a hole-in-one on the third hole, six birdies and two bogeys during his outstanding round that lifted him 37 spots on the leaderboard.

“One of the main reasons why I came here you know: the legend of Namseoul,” said the 24-year-old Madappa, who has triumphed once on the Asian Tour at the 2018 TAKE Solutions Masters on home soil.

“I was really excited to start the week here and I think it’s lived up to the expectation. I’m pretty sure it’s going to get a little tougher for the next few days.”

About the hole-in-one, he said: “It was actually anticlimactic, because I thought the ball went long but it ended up going in the hole. We were actually looking for the ball and ended up looking in the hole thankfully.”

Khalin Joshi (68-71) was tied 11th at three-under 139 following his second round of 71.

At the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour, Anirban Lahiri fired an opening round of two-under 68 to be tied 38th.

Lahiri was delighted his game has continued to trend in the right direction since his superb runner-up outing at THE PLAYERS Championship, the PGA TOUR’s flagship tournament, in March. He has posted two top-15 finishes in his last three starts.

"Think I'm coming in with some nice momentum, I'm feeling good about my game, most departments are healthy," said the Indian ace, who birdied two of his four opening holes en route to his 68. "Got off to a good start. There's a lot of tough holes out here and I think I kind of navigated my way around pretty good. On my back nine, the front side, I think the wind kind of died down a little bit and felt like I gave up a few scoring opportunities coming in, so a little disappointed with that.

"Probably could have hit my lines a little bit better, and I missed a few greens. So yeah, going to go work on that and hopefully keep it going," added Lahiri, , who finished equal 13th at the Valero Texas Open and tied 15th at the Mexico Open at Vidanta last weekend.

Picture: Asian Tour