Khalin Joshi climbs into Golconda Masters lead, Shamim fires a 63

By Rahul Banerji 

Day two of the Golconda Masters saw a shakeup atop the leader-board as Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi rose to the top riding a 4-under-67 at the Hyderabad Golf Club on Thursday even as the experienced Shamim Khan brought in the day’s best returns of an 8-under 63 for a share of third place.

Joshi followed his first day’s 64 to open up a two-shot lead over the pack in the Vooty & Haldi presented event on 11-under-131.

Gurgaon’s Veer Ahlawat fired a 3-under 68 to move into second place on 9-under-133 while overnight leader Karandeep Kochhar fell off the pace with a 4-over par 75 and down into 20^th place.

Shamim’s round brought him alongside three others in tied third place on 8-under-134, the others being Kolkata’s Shankar Das, Trishul Chinnappa of Bangalore and Chandigarh’s Angad Cheema.

The halfway cut fell at 1-over-143 with 55 professionals making it to the money rounds.

Flying start

Joshi (64-67), overnight tied second one shot off the lead, made a flying start on Thursday with a birdie blitz on the first three holes where he played his wedges to perfection.

The 27-year-old former Asian Tour winner landed his lob wedge approach from 44 yards within an inch of the pin on the second hole.

Khalin then had a bumpy stretch as a three-putt and two erratic tee shots brought him three bogeys in exchange for two birdies between the fifth and the ninth holes.

Joshi, a four-time winner on the PGTI, made his fourth three-putt of the tournament on the 10^th where he made par after missing a two-footer for birdie.

However, Khalin salvaged the round and emerged leader with birdies on the 14^th and 15^th making a 17-footer on the latter.

Joshi said later, “I had a terrific start and was in good ball-striking form. However, I feel I could’ve played better as I didn’t really capitalise on the start.

Solid back nine

“The two bogeys on the par-3s were quite disappointing and so were the two three-putts. But I put together a solid back-nine and made good of a lucky break on the 15^th.

“I have always done well here at the HGC as I have three top-10s including a runner-up finish and two other top-20s in my five previous appearances at the Golconda Masters. I always put myself in contention here and am confident of doing so this year too.

“My neck is much better but it still hurts a little bit when I look up to line up my shot. Hopefully it’ll get even better and give me some relief over the next two days.”

Veer Ahlawat (65-68), tied fifth two off the lead after round one, moved up the leader-board with an eventful round.

Veer, another consistent performer at the HGC, was six-under after the first 10 holes having made a 30-foot eagle on the eighth along with five birdies against one bogey.

Slip ups

Ahlawat, who enjoyed a career-best fifth place finish on the PGTI rankings last year, then made a couple of errors with his tee shots on the 14^th and 17^th that resulted in a bogey and a double-bogey.

“My first 10 holes and last eight holes were contrasting,” he said later. “I was playing extremely well till the 10^th but then seemed to lose focus after the bogey on the 14^th. It was downhill thereafter.

“My driving and putting were good but I didn’t finish the round well. The yardage on the 14^th hole troubled me for the second day in succession.

“I had a bogey there in round one as well,” added Ahlawat, who earned his breakthrough win on the PGTI last season.

Delhi’s Shamim produced a fabulous run of five consecutive birdies from the 13^th to the 17^th holes during his 63. In all, he had 10 birdies against two bogeys.

Delhi’s Rashid Khan (69), Udayan Mane (67) of Pune and Patna’s Aman Raj (71) were tied seventh on 7-under-135.

V. Gautham (69-72) was the only Hyderabad-based professional to make the cut. He was tied 37^th on 1-under-141.

Former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey, playing as a professional for the first time, missed the cut with a 26-over-168.

Also read: Golconda Masters set to tee off 2020 Tata Steel PGTI season