By Rahul Banerji
Mhow professional Om Prakash Chouhan maintained his lead over the Gujarat Open field on day two, in fact opening the gap further in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Chouhan followed his record-equalling 9-under-63 with a relatively sedate second round of 3-under-69 to lead the field by a massive seven shots at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens Golf Club.
PGTI Order of merit leader Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh and DLF’s Tapy Ghai were second on 5-under-139s with rounds of 69 and 70 at the Rs. 30 lakh event.
Only the top three have had sub-par scores over the first two days.
Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya had Wednesday’s best card of 67 to be tied fourth on 4-under-140 along with Arjun Prasad (72) of Delhi and Kolkata’s Rahil Gangjee (72).
The cut fell at 5-over-149 with 54 professionals and one amateur going into the final two days.
Slow start
Chouhan (63-69) made a slow start, getting his first two birdies on the days fifth and 10th holes with a good chip-putt and a six-foot conversion.
The 34-year-old dropped his first shot of the tournament when he missed a chip-putt after his approach shot rolled off the green.
Om Prakash then rallied with birdies on his closing two holes to make up for some of his lost opportunities earlier on and close the round on a high.
The five-time winner on the PGTI had a two-on two-putt on the par-5 eighth and sank a 10-footer on the ninth.
Chouhan said later, “It was a much better ball-striking day for me as compared to round one even though my score doesn’t seem to reflect that.
“It was a kind of round that kept the momentum going for me.
“Today, I dropped just one shot so I’m happy that I managed to keep the errors out despite encountering the tougher conditions in the morning session.
“Playing in the morning here is always tougher as the course plays longer with the absence of tailwind on the par-5s unlike the afternoon session.
“My putting was a big disappointment since I missed as many as six birdie putts from a range of 10 feet. So that’s one area I would like to improve upon over the last two days.”
Slipping up
Jairaj Singh Sandhu of Chandigarh, who made a dream 66 debut in round one, slipped five places from his overnight tied second to T7 on 3-under-141 after a 75 on Wednesday.
Others alongside him were Kolkata’s S.S.P. Chawrasia (71), Delhi’s Rashid Khan (72) and Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa S. (72).
Shravan Desai (73) in tied 11th on 2-under-142 was the best-placed of the local golfers. Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi (75) was also tied 11th.
Varun Parikh (68), another Ahmedabad-based professional, was joint 15th at one-under-143 along with Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa (74).
Karnal’s Mani Ram (80) fell from overnight T2 to T29 on 2-over-146.
Udayan Mane (72), who calls Kalhaar one of his home courses, was also tied 29th along with Bangalore amateur Aryan Roopa Anand (72).
Anand was the only amateur to make the cut.
Jay Pandya (71) was the third Ahmedabad-based professional to make the cut on tied 50th at 5-over-149.
Also read: Birdie blitz hands Mhow’s Om Chouhan early Gujarat Open lead
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