Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow and Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar share the halfway lead at seven-under-137 at the inaugural Paramount GolfForeste Delhi – NCR Open Golf Championship 2018.
While Chouhan shot a three-under-69 in round two to move up two places from his overnight tied third, Kochhar came up with an even-par-72 to gain one spot from his overnight second on an extremely windy day at the Noida Golf Course.
Kolkata’s Shankar Das (70) occupied third place at six-under-138 while Honey Baisoya (69) of Delhi was a further shot back in fourth position.
The cut was declared at three-over-147. Fifty-nine professionals and one amateur made the cut.
Round one leader Naman Dawar of Delhi slipped to tied 10th place at two-under-142 after a round of 78.
Amateur Simarjeet Singh (72), also occupying tied 10th, was the highest-placed among the Noida-based golfers. He was also the only amateur to make the cut.
Delhi’s Manav Jaini fired the day’s best score of four-under-68. He closed the day in tied 34th place at two-over-146.
Om Prakash Chouhan (68-69) didn’t strike the ball as well as he did in round one but enjoyed a good day with the putter. His four birdies came as a result of conversions from 10 to 12 feet.
Chouhan said, “I’ve been playing well since the Pune event last week. I recently made some changes to my swing and those weren’t working out so I went back to my old swing. That seems to have made the difference to my game. Scoring well in the tough conditions today added to my confidence.
“I feel I need to improve more on my hitting if I have to stay up there on the leaderboard this week.”
