Delhi’s Shaurya Bhattacharya, already a PGTI winner this year, had an eye-catching second round rto emerge as joint leader at the Poona Club Open on Wednesday. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Shaurya Bhattacharya and PGTI Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu emerged as the halfway leaders at the Rs 1 crore Poona Club Open on Wednesday.
Bhattacharya returned a tournament low of 8 under par 63 while Sandhu posted a 4 under 67 to top the leaderboard after 36 holes on 10 under 132, the PGTI said.
Bhattacharya (69-63) climbed 13 spots from overnight tied 14th and Chandigarh resident Sandhu (65-67) went one better than his overnight second place.
Day one leader Mohd Azhar (64-70) of Hyderabad carded a 70 in round two to drop into third place on 8 under 134.
The Poona Club Open 2025 is supported by the host venue, title sponsors Vencobb and NECC besides Ventive, SKS Fasteners, Elica, Marvel Realtors, Shubbaan Investments, DFMC, Automech and Kinetic.
The cut fell at 2 over 144 with 57 professionals progressing to the money rounds.
Veer Ahlawat, the 2024 PGTI Order of Merit champion, ended the day in tied eighth place on 6 under 136.
Pune’s Akshay Damale was the best-placed among the local professionals in tied 24th at 1 under 141.
Solid gains
Bhattacharya, fourth on the PGTI Ranking, picked up 10 birdies which included five conversions from 10 to 17 feet and some good chip-putts besides dropping two shots.
Watch round three live from 11:30 am on Thursday at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSG1if_NRwQ
“I felt my driving was good as I kept the ball on the fairways,” teh Delhi-based player said later.
“A lot of par 4s here are reachable and I was green-side on most of them from where I could make chip-putts. I left most of those putts within 10 feet and my putting was great.
“I played well here last year with a a top-15 finish. Won in the first half of 2025 and have had a very consistent second half of the season too, coming close to winning on a few occasions.
“The game is trending in the right direction.”
Bouncing back
Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu of Chandigarh improved one spot from overnight tied second place on Wednesday. Image courtesy PGTI.
After three bogeys on his first six holes, Sandhu bounced back strongly with seven birdies thereafter.
“It took me some time to wake up on the course today and the early bogeys did that for me,” Sandhu said.
“However, I’m glad the way the back nine went today. I’ll definitely be looking for a better start in the next two days and will look to cash in on the back nine as well.
“I think the seventh hole, where I picked up my first birdie of the day was the momentum changer as I almost chipped in for eagle.
“From there on I was very comfortable off the tee and that put my round back on track.”
Also read: Azhar goes 7 under for first-round lead at Poona Club Open
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