By Rahul Banerji
Kshitij Naveed Kaul climbed to the top with a sublime 7-under par 65 in round two of the Rs. 40 lakh ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship 2021 at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club on Friday.
The 20-year-old from Delhi, a winner on the PGTI in 2019, struck the tournament’s best round so far featuring nine birdies and two bogeys to take his 36-hole tally to 10-under 134 for a two-shot lead.
Kaul (69-65) gained five places from his overnight tied sixth, the PGTI said.
Panchkula-based Angad Cheema (68-68), part of the five-way lead on day one, shot a second consecutive 68 to occupy second place on 8-under 136.
Gurgaon’s Ankur Chadha (68-69), also in the lead after round one, ended day two in third place on 7-under 137 following his 69 on Friday.
The cut came at 3-over 147 with 53 professionals making the grade.
Steady gains
Kaul, 19th on the PGTI Order of Merit and fresh from top-20s in his last three events, had birdies at regular intervals on the front nine. He picked up shots on the second, fourth, seventh and ninth holes with conversions from seven to 15 feet.
Kaul then slowed down after a couple of erratic tee shots resulted in bogeys on 10 and 11 but came roaring back with a birdie on 12 followed by four in succession from 15 to 18.
He narrowly missed two eagles as well with his approach from 160 yards landing within inches of the pin on the latter. The promising young golfer signed off in style with a 20-foot birdie conversion on 18.
Kaul said, “It’s great to have made nine birdies today.
“The big difference between yesterday and today’s round was that my ball-striking was better today and I also converted some long putts. I came back well after those two bogeys in the middle of the round.
“A low score is that much more special at the RCGC as the greens are tough to read here and one can’t get away with a bad shot at this course.
“I missed a few tournaments this season in order of work on my game and my swing. All that hard work is paying off now.”
Cheema began with two birdies but then made pars and dropped a shot to be one-under for the day through 13 holes. He then pushed ahead with three birdies between 14 and 17.
Mixed round
Chadha mixed four birdies with a bogey in his 69 which featured two conversions from 12 to 20 feet.
Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Ahmedabad’s Anshul Patel, Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar and Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow were in tied fourth on 6-under 138.
Sunit Chowrasia was the best-placed Kolkata golfer in tied eighth at 5-under 139. His second round 68 included four successive birdies on the front nine.
Mari Muthu of Bangalore, one of the five joint leaders, dropped to tied eighth after a 71 on Friday.
Harendra Gupta (73) of Chandigarh and Noida’s Vikrant Chopra (75), the other two overnight joint leaders, slipped to T12 on 3-under 141 and T18 on 1-under 143 respectively.
Defending champion Mithun Perera (73-73) of Sri Lanka was tied 33rd on 2-over 146.
Delhi’s Manav Jaini struck a hole-in-one on the second hole during his round of 73. He was tied 45th on 3-over 147.
During the day’s proceedings, Indian cricket legend and PGTI board member Kapil Dev visited the RCGC to lend support to the event.
Also read: Five-way tie for opening day lead at ICC RCGC Open
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