Ajeetesh Sandhu was flawless on day two of the Vishwa Samudra Open presented by Kapil Dev to lead the field by three strokes at the DGC on Wednesday. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Ajeetesh Sandhu posted a 5 under par 67 in round two to hold a three-shot lead on 8 under 136 at the Vishwa Samudra Open at Delhi Golf Club on Wednesday
The Chandigarh-based Sandhu (69-67), playing at one of his favoured venues after a long gap, signed for a bogey-free card to climb one spot from his overnight tied second place, the PGTI said.
Manish Thakran (69-70) of Gurgaon, also T2 overnight, recorded an ace on hole 12 during his round of 70 on Wednesday at the Rs 2 crore event to move into sole second position at 5 under 139.
Day one leader Jamal Hossain of Bangladesh dropped to third place on 4 under 140 with a 73 in the second round.
The cut was declared at 5 over 149 with 51 professionals making the final two rounds.
The 27 who hadn’t completed their first round on Tuesday, resumed on Wednesday while round two commenced simultaneously after Hossain ended up as the first-round leader by two shots.
The seasoned Sandhu, a 10th tee starter on Wednesday, found fairways and greens at will and never looked out of sorts during his round.
The international winner rolled in putts from 10 feet and eight feet for birdies on holes 10 and 18 respectively. On the front nine, the 36-year-old Sandhu added three more birdies to his card with some outstanding tee and iron shots.
Sandhu, who had the day’s best card, said later, “A bogey-free round at DGC is only possible when you hit a lot of fairways which I did today.
Good gameplan
“I was solid off the tee, had a good gameplan and struck good iron shots. 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.”
Gurgaon’s Manish Thakran gave his chances of retaining a tour card for 2025 a huge boost at the Delhi Golf Club on Wednesday and also aced the 12th hole in the bargain. Image courtesy PGTI.
Thakran, fighting to save his card in the final full-field event of the season, was going great guns till hole 15 having made a hole-in-one, four birdies and two bogeys over that stretch. He then went bogey-birdie-double-bogey on the last three holes to lose some steam.
Thakran said, “I capitalised 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 resulted from 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, just the kind of confidence booster I needed ahead of the last two rounds.”
Rashid Khan (71) was tied fourth on 3 under 141 along with Dhruv Sheoran (69), Sudhir Sharma (72) and M. Dharma (72).
Two-time Indian Open winner Shiv Shankar Prasad (68) ended the day in tied 10th place on 1 under 143 while Tata Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat was a further shot back in tied 16th.
Also read: Hossain extends hot run on Day 1 of Vishwa Samudra Open
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.