Kathmandu: Defending champion Abhijit Chadha sounded a warning with a thunderous round of 10-under 62 to jump to the top of the leader board at the half-way stage of the Nepali Rs 4.8 million prize money Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd., Masters 2013 being played at the par-72 Gokarna Forest Golf Resort here on Thursday.
After shooting a 5-under 67 in the opening round, the 21-year-old was 15-under 129 for the tournament and led by two shots from overnight leader S Chikkarangappa who signed in a card of 69 today and a vastly improved Shankar Das who brought in a score of 7-under 65 for a 36-hole total of 13-under par 131. Mohd. Dulal Hussain of Bangladesh, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Mohd. Sanju were all tied for the fourth place at 133.
While the leader was basking in glory, Manav Jaini stole a bit of a limelight when he aced the Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd., Signature Hole no. 16 to win a cash prize of Rs 10,000, an award for the first player to make a hole-in-one on this hole. Manav also earned Rs 20,000 instituted by PGTI. Incidentally this is the second hole-in-one in as many days with Moin Malak having holed the par-3 13th in the opening round. Manav signed in a card of 66 to be tied for the seventh place along with Om Prakash Chouhan whose two-day total stood at 134.
Nepal’s strongest contender Shivaram Shrestha added a 69 to his overnight 66 for a total of 9-under 135 that put him in the tied-ninth position along with Arshdeep Tiwana and Gaurav Ghei. Amongst the other Nepalese players, Toran Bikram Shahi who shot 1-over 73, Umesh Nagarkoti who brought in a card of 2-under par and Yelamber Singh Adhikari with a level par 72 were all tied for the 39th place with a total of 141 and made the cut.
As many as 55 players made it to the money-making rounds after the cut was applied at a very steep 2-under par 142. Perhaps this is the lowest cut in the history of golf in India and Nepal put together! Mithun Perera, Harendra Gupta and C Muniyappa were amongst the notable players who missed the cut.
Abhijit who began from the 10th and narrowly missed the birdie made amends by converting on the next two par-5s (11th and 12th) before making another pair of birdies on the 15th and 16th while also saving a stroke on the 18th to be 5-under at the half-way mark. Opening his back nine with a birdie, the tall lad from Chandigarh made consecutive birdies on the third and fourth and seventh and eighth respectively for a neatly compiled 10-under 62. “I am playing good golf and today was exceptionally good,” said the leader. “The greens are a bit tricky as some of them are fast and the others are slow. I did miss a couple of birdies,” admitted Abhijit adding “I would love to defend the title and would work towards it.”
Meanwhile Shivaram began on a solid note making consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th before hitting a rough patch where he made a bogey on the par-4 14th. However, he nullified it immediately with a birdie on the next hole. The stocky golfer made two more birdies on his back nine third and ninth against a solitary bogey on the eighth to finish at 3-under for the day. “Anything can happen in golf. I would try my best to catch up with the leader,” said Nepal No.1.
Top scores after 36 holes
129 Abhijit Singh Chadha (67, 62); 131 Shankar Das (66, 65), Chikkarangappa S (62, 69); 133 Md. Dulal Hossain (68, 65), Ajeetesh Sandhu (65, 68), Mohammad Sanju (66, 67); 134 Manav Jaini (68, 66), Om Prakash Chouhan (70, 64); 135 Shivaram Shrestha (66, 69), Arshdeep Tiwana (65, 70), Gaurav Ghei (68, 67); 136 Chiragh Kumar (69, 67), Divyanshu Bajaj (68, 68), Rashid Khan (65, 71)
