Sharma holds on to Golconda Masters lead at halfway stage

By Rahul Banerji

Akshay Sharma continued to play solid golf for the halfway lead at the Rs 1 crore Golconda Masters on 14-under 126 in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The Chandigarh golfer fired a 5 under par 65 to go with his opening 61 to lead Sachin Baisoya by one stroke at the HGA course, the PGTI said.

Delhi’s Baisoya matched Sharma’s first-round effort with a tournament low of 9-under 61 on Thursday. The 36-hole cut fell at 1-over 141 with 57 professionals making the grade.

Sharma (61-65), the first-round leader by two shots, put together three birdies and a bogey on his opening nine as he was brilliant on the greens from a range of 10 feet.

The 33-year-old, a two-time winner on the PGTI, picked up another shot after the turn to continue his march.

Sharma found himself in difficult spots twice thereafter but managed to extract birdies on both occasions.

Shot of the day

On hole six, his drive landed in the trees from where he chipped out before coming up with his best shot of the day that stopped six feet from the pin.

“My ball-striking was once again the best part of my game today. I hit 16 greens in regulation in round two and kept creating chances for myself,” Sharma said later.

“I’m in a good mental space at the moment as I’m visualising and executing my shots very well. That helped me get out of trouble towards the end of my round. I’ll just look to keep going in the same fashion over the next two days.”

Baisoya (66-61) kept pace with the leader with his own moments of brilliance during his flawless round which included an eagle and seven birdies, that helped him gain nine places on the leaderboard.

Yashas Chandra and Ravi Kumar fired rounds of 67 to be tied for third on 10-under 130.

Aman Raj (65) was a further shot back in fifth while local lad Mohd Azhar (68) was tied seventh at seven-under 133. He was the only Hyderabad-based player to make the cut.

Faridabad’s Divesh Rana made a hole-in-one on hole 11 during his round of 70 that had him placed tied 28^th on 2-under 138.

Tata Steel PGTI Rankings leader Om Prakash Chouhan was tied 22^nd on 3-under 137, Rahil Gangjee was tied 35^th on 139 while former merit topper Udayan Mane missed the cut.

Also read: Akshay fires career-best 61 for Golconda Masters clubhouse lead