By Rahul Banerji
Indian professional golf’s flagbearer Anirban Lahiri and spiritual teacher Sadhguru were keen participants in the sixth edition of the Isha Golf Jaunt at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune last week.
Lahiri along with Sadhguru and Oxford Golf Resort chairman Anil Seolekar joined golf enthusiasts from in and around Pune city as they teed off to raise funds for the cause of the foundation.
It may be mentioned that Sadhguru is a keen golfer and is reported to be a 14 handicapper who has brought aspects of his teachings to the game and interacted with several top names of the sport around the world.
The Isha Foundation’s annual golf fundraiser was held at the award-winning course to raise awareness about the need for quality education for children from disadvantaged rural communities.
Good cause
Isha Vidhya has established nine rural schools in Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh and has on the rolls 8,132 children. It also carries out critical intervention in government schools touching the lives of close to 200,000 children.
Nearly 100 golfers registered for the Oxford event, where besides the golf, spouses and children got to be a part of yoga and other recreational activities. It concluded with Sadhguru’s one-on-one interaction with the attendees.
Oxford will host an extensive event in January 2019 for the next edition of Isha Golf Jaunt. A number of sponsors, celebrities and volunteers have lined up to help support the programme, a statement from the organisers said.
Rashid fires six straight birdies in clean round
At Mumbai, two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan hit a classy eight-under-62 in round two of the Rs 1 crore CG Open 2018 to pull clear of the field by three shots on Thursday.
The Delhi golfer produced a sensational run of six straight birdies during an error-free round at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club for a total of 10-under-130.
Australia’s Kunal Bhasin, a former CG Open champion and Mumbai resident, carded a 67 for a share of second place at seven-under-133 along with Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar (69).
The cut fell at three-over-143 with 50 professionals and one amateur making the weekend rounds.
Rashid (68-62), overnight tied 11th, flew to the top of the leaderboard riding on his putting form. Khan, a two-time runner-up at the CG Open, set the course on fire with birdies on his first six holes sinking putts from 15 to 25 feet on three occasions.
The 27-year-old, fresh from a top-10 in Bengaluru last week, picked up two more birdies on the back-nine including one from 25 feet to stake his claim for the title this week.
Rashid said, “I’ve been striking the ball well but was struggling with my putting till last week in Bengaluru. I tried a few things and managed to fix that during the Bengaluru event that also helped me put up some good scores there including a 67.”
Bhasin, who withdrew from last week’s event due to a back spasm, said, “I’m still a little stiff and restricted in my swing due to the back spasm and that’s the reason I’ve changed my set up and am playing with an open stance. Nonetheless, I’ve not felt this good about my game in a while.”
Digvijay Singh, the joint leader from round one, slipped on day two with a 70. Digvijay shared fourth place with Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja (68) and Mysore’s Yashas Chandra (68) at six-under-134.
Two-way share in lead at RCGC
In Kolkata, Afshan Fatima took advantage of a mid-round lapse by Neha Tripathi to take a share of the lead after two rounds in the 18th and final leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 2018 at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.
Afshan, second with a 73 on the first day, added a no-frills 74 to get to 147, while Neha, followed her first round 70 with a 77 to let her advantage slip.
With Friday being the final day of competition this season on theHero WPG Tour, the fight for the title is keenly poised with both Neha and Afshan looking for their second win this year.
Also read: Of sleepy snakes, sliding scores and a merited European title
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