By Rahul Banerji
Overnight leader Shamim Khan clung to his advantage with a resilient Ahmedabad Open second round at the Glade One Golf Resort & Club on Thursday.
Two-time PGTI Order of Merit winner Shamim (31-36), who enjoyed a two-shot lead after round one, was five-under 67 at the halfway stage to lead the field by one shot, the PGTI said.
Noida’s Amardeep Malik (32) and Ahmedabad-based Samarth Dwivedi (34) went bogey free to tie for second on four-under 68 along with Bengaluru’s Shaurya Binu (34), Delhi’s Kshitij Naveed Kaul (35) and Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan (35).
The first two rounds of the event comprised nine holes each. After 18 completed holes on Thursday, the cut came on one-over 73 with 52 pros and one amateur going through.
The third and fourth rounds will now comprise 18 holes each.
Seventeen-time winner Shamim made a poor start, dropping shots in his first two holes.
The 44-year-old then rallied with birdies on holes five and nine, landing an accurate approach within four feet on one and converting an 18-footer on the other.
Shamim also scrambled well from a tough spot on the seventh to salvage a par with a 30-foot conversion.
Satisfactory day
“It was a very satisfactory round, considering the bad start I had, the tight flags and the wind today,” Shamim said later.
“I felt I fought back really well. The par on seven stood out for me as I was in a tough spot after hitting the sprinkler and landing in the bunker. The long conversion on the closing ninth was a bonus as I wasn’t expecting that to roll in.
“The focus now will be on looking for maximum regulations and also gauging the speed of the greens. It was important for me to be patient today and I did that well.”
Malik, who dropped three shots on the first two holes in round one, made a grand recovery with his 32 on day two to climb 33 places on the leaderboard.
Malik signed off his second round with a 20-foot birdie conversion on the ninth.
Ahmedabad professionals Anshul Patel was tied 14th on one-under 71 and Varun Parikh T38 at one-over 73.
Bangalore golfer C. Muniyappa’s 31 was the round of the day and it placed him tied 20th on level-par 72.
Noida’s 15-year-old Aarav D. Shah was the only amateur to make the cut in tied 20th.
Round 2 leaderboard
67: Shamim Khan (31-36)
68: Shaurya Binu (34-34); Amardeep Malik (36-32); Samarth Dwivedi (34-34); Kshitij Naveed Kaul (33-35); Abhinav Lohan (33-35)
Also read: Tour senior Shamim is early pacesetter at Ahmedabad Open
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