By Rahul Banerji
Manu Gandas continued his brilliant run of form with a six-under 66 to top the leaderboard on nine-under 135 after round two of the inaugural S.S.P. Chawrasia Invitational in Kolkata on Thursday.
The Gurgaon golfer who already has five wins this season was a shot ahead of LIV Golf star Anirban Lahiri at the Rs 1 crore event presented by TAKE at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.
Lahiri had the day’s best card of seven-under 65 to tally 136 while Veer Ahlawat of Gurgaon had a 67 to hold third place at six-under 138.
The top three – Manu, Anirban and Veer – were in the same group on the first two days.
Between them, the three dropped just one shot on the day and will be back playing together in round three as the leader group.
Tata Steel PGTI Rankings topper Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (70) of Chandigarh was tied ninth on four-under 140 and leads Gandas narrowly on the money list.
Tournament host Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia (70) was tied 11th at three-under 141 to be the highest-placed among the Kolkata-based professionals.
Ajeetesh Sandhu (70) and Gaganjeet Bhullar (72) were alongside Chawrasia.
Round one leader Karandeep Kochhar (77) of Chandigarh slipped to tied 20th on one-under 143.
The cut fell at four over 148 with 57 professionals making the grade.
Flying start
Gandas (69-66), overnight tied eighth, was off to a hot start with five birdies in his first seven holes where he rolled in long putts including a 27-footer.
He added two more birdies and a bogey on the front-nine. The highlight of his front nine was an accurate approach from 177 yards on the third that left him a tap-in for birdie.
Gandas said, “I’m striking it fairly well, other than that I am rolling the putts quite good, so I am going to take that into the weekend as well.
“The first nine was quite good but on the second nine I missed a couple of makeable putts.
“Both Veer and I got to learn a lot playing with Anirban as he has played at the most elite level. It’s great that our three-ball will continue in round three as well.”
Lahiri (71-65), T18 overnight too made a great start with five consecutive birdies that included three putts between 20 and 25 feet.
Long conversions
He then made further inroads on the front nine with two more long birdie conversions.
Anirban said, “I think, the first half of the round where I made all my birdies was probably the least impressive as far as my ball striking was concerned.
“But after that, I got into a good rhythm. The body is beginning to feel better now. I was a little tired after a lot of activities on the Pro-Am day.
“So hopefully, I’ll just rest up and enjoy myself on this golf course on the last two days.
“I have played with Veer a couple of times so I knew what to expect and I know Manu and Yuvraj have been phenomenal this time on the PGTI.
“I was very impressed with Manu. He’s got a great temperament and great focus.
“Obviously he is someone who is very organised and plays to his strengths. A lot of really good signs for the future of Indian golf.”
Also read: Kochhar makes fast start at Chawrasia Invitational for Day 1 lead
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