Chandigarh golfer Karandeep Kochhar opened with an eagle two at the Poona Club Golf Course before staying in the tied second-round lead in Pune on Thursday. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Karandeep Kochhar and Kshitij Naveed Kaul held on as co-leaders for a second day in succession at the Rs 1 crore Poona Club Open in Pune on Thursday.
Chandigarh’s Kochhar (64-66) and Kaul (64-66) of Delhi continued to match strides into the halfway stage at the Poona Club Golf Course with totals of 12-under 130 with 5 under par 66s in round two.
Tata Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat and Samarth Dwivedi too returned rounds of 66 to shared third place on 8 under 134, the PGTI said.
The cut came down at even-par 142. Fifty-eight professionals made the cut.
Tenth tee starter Kochhar holed his chip from 35 yards to open with an on the Par-4 10th. A couple of good iron shots and two long conversions then earned him birdies on holes 13 and 16.
Bogeys on the turn and soon thereafter did not derail his round as the Asian Tour regular rallied with a recovery shot over the trees to claim an eagle on seven before following up with a 15-foot birdie conversion on eight.
“Consistency was the key for me today. I stuck to my game plan of hitting the driver everywhere,” Kochhar said.
“I had a great start with the eagle that really got the momentum going for me. The highlight of the round was the approach shot on the seventh that led to an eagle.
Sound advice
“Played to my game plan by being aggressive there. Kudos to my caddie who guided me well on that shot.
“As this is my seventh tournament in as many weeks, my back is hurting a bit. So, it’s important for me to get some physiotherapy and focus on rest and recovery.”
Kaul drove the Par-4 14th green for a second consecutive day to pick up birdie there. He added another birdie thereafter but stumbled with a couple of bogeys on 17 and three.
Kaul’s purple patch began with his outstanding bunker shot on the fifth that led to a tap-in birdie.
The 23-year-old, who won his maiden professional title at the same venue in 2019 and has also won amateur, junior and sub-junior events at the same venue, went on to bag an eagle with a 12-foot conversion on the Par-5 seventh.
He signed off with a flourish by following with birdies from short range on holes eight and nine.
“I just feel I’m beginning to find my rhythm now after a couple of decent finishes in the last two events,” Kaul said.
“I’ve been striking it really well and closing the day with eagle-birdie-birdie was quite a confidence-booster. I’ve always played well at this course and that will be an added advantage going ahead.”
Shivendra Singh Sisodia posted the day’s best of 64 to jump 35 places to tied fifth on 7 under 135 alongside last year’s rankings topper Om Prakash Chouhan (67), Shaurya Bhattacharya (67) and Aryan Roopa Anand (67).
Pranav Mardikar (68) was the best-placed of the Pune-based professionals in tied 14th on 5 under 137.
Local favourite Udayan Mane struck a 67 to share 22nd place on 3 under 139.
Also read: Kochhar and Kaul are day one joint leaders at Poona Club Open
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