By Rahul Banerji
In-form local golfer Akshay Sharma carded a 4-under- par 68 in testing conditions to take the halfway lead at the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational presented by TAKE Sports on Friday.
Akshay, 30, thrived in home conditions at the Chandigarh Golf Club to take his aggregate to 9-under-135 and improve on his overnight tied second at the Rs. 1.5 crore (approx $203,200) event.
Amardeep Malik of Noida Golf Course and Gurgaon-based Veer Ahlawat shot 68s for the second day in succession to be one behind in tied second, the PGTI media office said.
Eighteen-year-old Delhi-based rookie golfer Harshjeet Singh Sethie, the tallest player in the field at six feet six inches, struck a fine 67 to be placed fourth on 7-under-137.
Tournament favourite Anirban Lahiri moved up five places to tied fifth on 6-under-138 with a second round 68.
Others alongside him were PGTI Order of Merit leader Udayan Mane (67) of Pune, as well as the Bangalore duo of first round leader Khalin Joshi (72) and C. Muniyappa (67).
European Tour card-holders Gaganjeet Bhullar (72) was tied 28th on level-par-144, and three-time Indian Open champion S.S.P. Chawrasia (74) was tied 38th on 1-over-145.
Another Indian Open winner, Jyoti Randhawa (72), was tied 44th on 2-over-146.
The cut fell at 3-over-147 with 57 professionals making the money rounds.
Headed home
Big names missing out were reigning PGTI Order of Merit champion Rashid Khan (74) on 7-over-151 and tournament host Jeev Milkha Singh (77) on 8-over-152.
Akshay (67-68) admitted to better ball-striking than in round one as he hit 13 regulations, one up on than his round of Thursday.
Sharma, , riding on the confidence of his win on the PGTI last month, made five birdies and a bogey in an action-packed back nine and missed out on a hole-in-one by a foot on the 11th.
He also made a good chip-putt for birdie on the 17th and had an exceptional approach on the 18th, which had a tight flag, to set up a birdie.
Akshay then had a steady front nine with pars all the way.
‘Tougher conditions’
“Four-under is a great score considering that I started in the morning today when the conditions are tougher due to the lower temperature and the fairways playing longer,” Akshay said later.
“My target was to hit the first five greens and I succeeded in doing that playing two-under on the stretch in the process.
“I had a quiet back nine but importantly didn’t drop a shot there. It’s probably the comfort of playing at my home course and the momentum from last month’s performances that has kept me going.”
Both NGC’s Malik (68-68) and Ahlawat (68-68) moved up from overnight tied fourth to tied second as a result of their Friday rounds.
Malik, who has been working on some swing changes, made six birdies and two bogeys during the day.
He also had a couple of brilliant par saves on the seventh and ninth where he made up and downs from 100 yards and 50 yards respectively.
Birdie blitz
The lanky Ahlawat came roaring back with six birdies on his front nine after having dropped two shots on the back nine.
Veer, playing with a new putter, sank all his birdie putts from a range of 10 to 20 feet.
PGA Tour regular Lahiri (70-68), still adjusting to the pace of the greens as he is playing in India after a long gap, did well to pick up five birdies against one bogey.
The highlight of his round was a massive 330 yard drive on the seventh hole where he pocketed a birdie.
“Adapting to the conditions here is still work in progress for me. In round one I was completely at sea, today I was a little less at sea, maybe tomorrow I’ll see land,” chuckled Lahiri.
Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar, winner of PGTI’s last event staged at the CGC last month, had made a disappointing start to the week with a 76 on Thursday.
Kochhar however, bounced back in style with the day’s best score of 66 on Friday. It placed him tied 18th on 2-under-142.
‘More comfortable‘
Kochhar said, “I guess it was just the confidence level today as I was more comfortable playing along with Anirban.
“In round one I was very nervous as I was playing in the same group as Anirban for the first time. I was not able to focus especially in the first half of the round and I wasn’t myself.
“I was more at ease today and played with more confidence. The goal was to shoot a 6-under today and get to a total of 2-under in order to give myself a chance.
“I managed to do that. My pace on the greens was also really good today.”
Also read: Double-eagle Joshi tops Jeev Invitational leaderboard
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