Aamby Valley,: Gaganjeet Bhullar of Witalsee Punjab Lancers, was on fire as he carded a brilliant error-free eight-under for the 14-hole round in the second round of the Pearls Golf Premier League in association with Aamby Valley City and that carried his team to the very top after a modest first round.
With Rashid Khan coming in with a bogey-free six, Witalsee Punjab Lancers had a great scoring day with Thaworn Wiratchant and David Howell, the other two Punjab players, carding four-under each. That gave Punjab a score of 18-under for the day and carried them to 24-under for two days.
First round leaders Nippon Kenwood Delhi Darts, whose three scoring players were Rahil Gangjee 51 (-4), Johan Edfors 52 (-3) and Scott Bar 52 (-3) and with today’s 10-under, they are now at 22-under in second place behind Witalsee Punjab Lancers. There are two teams, Uttarakhand Lions and Shubhkamna UP Eagles, sharing the third place at 17-under with
The final round will be played as better-ball stroke and there will be two scores from each team. In each pairing decided by the various teams, the better score in each duo will count on each hole.
The event is being telecast live on Sony Six and the final day’s telecast will start 12 noon.
The top two individual scorers for the second day were Thai Pariya Junhasavasdikul of Kensville Gujarat Underdawgs and Bhullar, who shot eight-under each. Anirban Lahiri of Shubhkamna UP Eagles cracked a seven-under, despite feeling that he had left a few putts out there and Rashid Khan carded six-under on a day when there was a lot of low scoring.
Bhullar found the green in regulation in each of the 14 holes and had six birdies and an eagle.
Witalsee Punjab Lancers mainstay Bhullar, a four-time winner on Asian Tour, said, “I found each of the 14 greens and frankly I had a chance on virtually every hole. I played aggressive and tried to go eagles on par-fives. I managed an eagle on par-five ninth (for this event) and had six other birdies. I have great memories of this course as I won the only time I played here and also have the course record of eight-under.”
He added, “Maybe if there were four more holes I could have had a go at that, too. Overall in terms of the team we are feeling good and I am looking forward to the better-ball format, where the scoring can really low.”
On the tournament itself, Bhullar added, “Golf is doing really well in India and this kind of a tournament adds to that. This course is really world-class and can host European Tour events, too.”
Earlier in the day, Pariya, who was a last-minute induction into this star-studded field, was mighty pleased with his eight-under. “It was big change from the first day. It was nice to get onto the greens more often. Everything fell in place today. I hit all 14 greens in regulations and gave myself ample chances of making birdies.”
He added, “I made most of the par 5s today and on three of them sank two birdies and one eagle and that helped me score low round today. Also, my putting much better than yesterday and am much happy with my overall performance.
On his experience in India, he said, “I have come to India so many times and I find it as a great golf destination. Golf courses here are as good as anywhere on the Asian Tour,”
Rashid, one of the rising stars of Indian golf said, “The big difference for me today was putting. I think my driving was better yesterday, but somehow I was not very confident about my putting. The 20-feet birdie putt on the par-5 sixth set me up nicely for the remaining holes. I had another 10-feet putt on the seventh, and also on the ninth. This is an open course, so if you can keep the ball on the fairway, the rest becomes easy. The big test comes tomorrow. Hopefully, I will manage to keep the good work going in the better-ball tomorrow.”
Anirban Lahiri, came in with a seven-under 48 and said, “I could have gone one or two shots lower. I missed a few birdies putts. Hopefully we can get them tomorrow.”
Leading individual scores (after two rounds):
The event is being played over 14 holes with a total par of 55 at Aamby Valley Golf Course
Holes: 14; Par 55
99: Gaganjeet Bhullar Witalsee Punjab Lancers) (52-47) and Anirban Lahiri (Shubhkamna UP Eagles) (51-58)
101: 51-50 Rahil Gangjee (Nippon Kenwood Delhi Darts) (51-50), Scott Hend (Maharashtra 59ers) (51-50); Johan Edfors (Nippon Kenwood Delhi Darts) (49-52)
103: Pariya J (Kensville Gujarat Underdawgs) (56-47); Rashid Khan (Witalsee Punjab Lancers) (54-49);
104: David Howell (Witalsee Punjab Lancers) (53-51);
105: Mithun Perera (Colombo 6s) (54-51)
107: Shankar Das (Uttarakhand Lions) (51-56)
Team scores (after two rounds):
306 (24-under): Witalsee Punjab Lancers
308 (22-under): Nippon Kenwood Delhi Darts
313 (17-under): Uttarakhand Lions and Shubhkamna UP Eagles
316 (14-under): Tamilnadu Pullees
320: (10-under): Maharashtra 59ers and Colombo 6s
323 (7-under): Gujarat Underdawgs
Top scorers in second round:
47 (-8) Pariya J (Gujarat Underdawgs) and Gaganjeet Bhull (Witalsee Punjab Lancers)
48 (-7) Anirban Lahiri (Shubhkamna UP Eagles)
49 (-6) Rashid Khan (Witalsee Punjab Lancers)
50 (-5) Chapchai Nirat (Uttarakhand Lions); Scott Hen (Maharashtra 59ers)
51 (-4) Rahil Gangjee (Nippon Kenwood Delhi Darts); Rich Beem
(Tamilnadu Pullees); David Howell (Witalsee Punjab Lancers); Mithun Perera (Colombo 6s); Thaworn Wiratchant
(Witalsee Punjab Lancers); Shankar Das (Uttarakhand Lions)