Bangalore: Sri Lankan Vijitha Bandara (68-71) led the field after round two of the PGTI’s Final Qualifying Stage for the 2015 season being held at Eagleton - The Golf Resort near Bangalore. Bandara followed up his first round effort of four-under-68 with a one-under-71 in the second round to take his total score to five-under-139. Delhi’s Ajay Baisoya (70-70) and Arjun Singh (71-69) of Gurgaon were tied second at four-under-140.
Vijitha Bandara, who was overnight tied second, started from the 10th on Wednesday and had an eventful back-nine as he mixed four birdies with two bogeys. Bandara hit a purple patch with a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th to the 17th. He then put together a steady front-nine with a lone bogey on the sixth.
“I had bogeys early on in the round but the three successive birdies got me back in the game and lifted my confidence. I’ve been consistent with my hitting and putting on the first two days and that’s been the key to my good scores,” said Vijitha, who made his debut on the PGTI in 2014.
Ajay Baisoya shot a second straight 70 for a share of second place. Gurgaon’s Arjun Singh joined Baisoya in joint second after he followed up his opening round of 71 with a solid 69 on day two.
Anirudh Goyal of Delhi and Ravinder Tavel of Chandimandir, Haryana, were placed tied fourth at three-under-141.
The halfway cut fell at seven-over-151. The top eighty-two players made the cut.
Mani P of Bangalore missed the cut as he totaled 10-over-154, however, his second round of 74 featured a rare hole-in-one on a par-4. His hole-in-one (albatross) came on the par-4 17th hole.
At the end of round four on Friday, the top 37 players (+ ties) will earn full cards for the 2015 PGTI season.