New Delhi, 11-12-2024

Ajeetesh Sandhu posts top-notch 67 to open up three-shot lead on day two; Manish Thakran fires hole-in-one, rises to second place

Seasoned Indian pro and international winner Ajeetesh Sandhu posted a top-notch five-under 67 in round two to open up a three-shot lead at a total of eight-under 136 at the INR 2 crore Vishwa Samudra Open 2024 presented by Kapil Dev being played at the revered Delhi Golf Club (DGC).

Chandigarh-based Ajeetesh (69-67), who is playing at one of his favoured venues, the DGC, after a long time, signed for a bogey-free card on Wednesday to climb one spot from his overnight tied second place.

Gurugram’s Manish Thakran (69-70), who was also overnight tied second, struck a hole-in-one on the 12th hole during his round of 70 on Wednesday to move into sole second position at five-under 139.

Jamal Hossain of Bangladesh, the first-round leader, dropped down to third place at four-under 140 after he returned a 73 in the second round.

The cut was declared at five-over 149. Fifty-one professionals made the cut.

The 27 players who hadn’t completed their first round on Tuesday, resumed play at 7 am on Wednesday while round two commenced simultaneously. Jamal Hossain ended up as the first-round leader by two shots.

Ajeetesh Sandhu, a 10th tee starter on Wednesday, was finding fairways and greens at will and did not seem to be in a tough spot at any point during his round. Ajeetesh rolled in putts from 10 feet and eight feet for his birdies on the 10th and 18th respectively. On the front-nine, the 36-year-old Sandhu added three more birdies to his card thanks to his outstanding tee shots and iron shots.

Ajeetesh, who carded the day’s best score, said, “A bogey-free round at DGC is only possible when you hit a lot of fairways. I did that today. I was solid off the tee, had a good gameplan in place and struck good iron shots. I found the spots that I had to. I was in the rough only a couple of times and that too just off the fairways. So, there were not enough opportunities to produce any heroics today. Overall, it was a solid day.

“Whenever you play well at a venue you go back there with good memories and it’s nice to play those good memories in your mind while you’re on the golf course. It becomes easier to execute shots. So, the familiarity with the DGC definitely plays to my advantage.”

Manish Thakran, fighting to save his card in the final full-field event of the season, was going great guns till the 15th having made a hole-in-one, four birdies and two bogeys over that stretch. Manish then made bogey-birdie-double-bogey on the last three holes to lose some steam.

Thakran said, “I capitalized on my strength, which is putting, over the first two days, and played some aggressive golf. Even the double-bogey on the last hole today came as a result of my natural tendency to attack the pins in trying to gain a shot. It was a great feeling to make my first hole-in-one in tournament play. It’s just the kind of confidence-booster I needed ahead of the last two rounds.”

Rashid Khan (71) was tied fourth at three-under 141 along with Dhruv Sheoran (69), Sudhir Sharma (72) and M Dharma (72).

SSP Chawrasia (68) ended the day in tied 10th at one-under 143.

TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat was a further shot back in tied 16th place.