Kartik Sharma leads KDGT Invitational by two after second round

By Rahul Banerji

Left-hander Kartik Sharma held a two-shot cushion at the halfway stage of the Rs. 1 crore Kapil Dev-Grant Thornton Invitational at DLF Golf & Country Club on Wednesday.

The local lad fired a second round of five-under 67 playing on home turf to lead the field with a six-under 138 aggregate.

Manu Gandas, also from the host venue carded a 66 for tied second on four-under 140 along with Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya (68).

Round one leader Dhruv Sheoran slipped to tied fourth on three-under 141 after a 73 in round two.

Sheoran shared fourth place with Bangalore’s Syed Saqib Ahmed (67) and Gurgaon’s Himmat Rai (70), another professional from the DLF GCC.

Kolkata-based rookie Arjun Puri matched the course record with an immaculate eight-under 64 to end the day in tied 43^rd place at six-over 150.

Memorable feat

Puri equalled Shubhankar Sharma’s score the latter recorded during the 2018 Indian Open.

Earlier in the day, round one which was suspended on Tuesday for fading light, was completed with Sheoran emerging leader by two shots on four-under 68.

The cut came at seven-over 151 with 56 professionals going into the innovative Pro-Am and the money rounds.

Sharma (71-67) jumped six places from overnight tied seventh to take the lead with six birdies and a bogey.

Kartik, 22, who has six top-10s in the season so far and 14^th on the Order of Merit, continued his good form on Wednesday with three long birdie conversions on the back nine and a chip-in.

Kartik said, “Today everything was on point for me and that’s exactly what you need at this course. On day one, on some of the wedge shots on the back-nine, my yardages were a little off.

“In round two, I was mindful of the numbers I was hitting into the greens since you have to position yourself well off the green. I feel that was the big difference between my first and second rounds.

Looking forward

“Playing alongside the amateurs in rounds three and four, it will be a fun environment and a little more relaxing as there will be some more chit-chat. But the strategy will be the same for me.”

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (72-73) was tied 16^th on one-over 145, Gaganjeet Bhullar (75-72) was T23 on 147 and Jyoti Randhawa (77-74) was tied 47^th on seven-over 151.

After a disappointing 86 in round one, Arjun Puri’s course record 64 lifted him from tied 119^th to tied 43^rd and helped make the cut.

Also read: Sheoran holds clubhouse lead on day one of KDGT Invitational