Kapil Kumar stays ahead at weather-affected Pune Open

By Rahul Banerji

Kapil Kumar maintained his lead on a weather-hit day two on 11-under 121 at the Rs 40 lakh Pune Open Golf Championship on Thursday.

Play was suspended due to lightning and a thunderstorm at 4:40 pm local time on Thursday with the second round resuming on Friday morning with 27 golfers yet to complete the round.

Pune has been experiencing heavy rains for the last few days which resulted in waterlogging on some stretches at the Poona Club Golf Course.

As a result, hole no. 5 has been reduced from a par-4 to a par-3 and hole no. 6 was not played in Round 2, making 66 par for the course again.

Gurgaon’s Veer Ahlawat with the day’s best of seven-under 59 was second in the clubhouse on 10-under 122, one shot behind Delhi’s Kumar.

Bangalore golfer M. Dharma was third on nine-under 123 and Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja fourth on eight-under 124.

Good momentum

Kapil Kumar who started from the back nine continued with his overnight momentum producing a second straight bogey-free round that included three birdies.

Kapil was solid through the day as he hit 15 greens in regulation and all fairways except one. He sank a 15-footer on 17 and set up a tap-in birdie with a great wedge shot on the third. 

“I am happy with my driving and chipping,” Kapil said later. “I found most fairways and greens and that’s what helped me keep the errors out.

“In 2011, I finished as a runner-up on this course and remembering that and how I played then, helped me further in planning my round today,” the 30-year-old added.

Ahlawat was on fire as he carded a seven-under 59 that was additionally bogey-free as he consistently landed it within five feet of the flag throughout the day.

Among the golfers who came back on Friday to complete round 2 was Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu seven under with only his last hole to play having put in a run of seven straight birdies on Thursday.

Delhi’s Kshitij Naved Kaul was also on seven-under with one hole to play.

Also read: Kapil Kumar takes round one lead at Pune Open Championship