Prasad, Perera hold slim edge over field in QA InfoTech Open

By Rahul Banerji

Delhi teenager Arjun Prasad and Sri Lanka’s Mithun Perera were locked atop the leaderboard after the second day of the QA InfoTech Open 2018 at the Noida Golf Course on Wednesday.

With the field struggling to make scores of note on the still-sluggish greens, Prasad and Perera who had three-under-par 69s in a five-way tie for the lead on Tuesday in the Rs. 50 lakh event, once again matched the other with 71s to stay ahead of the pack with totals of four-under-140.

Panchkula’s Angad Cheema (70) and Sri Lankan Anura Rohana (71) were a shot behind the leaders in tied third.

India star Jeev Milkha Singh ended the day tied 17^th with a total of one-over-145 with a two-over-74 card in round two.

Reflecting the tough scoring conditions, the cut fell at five-over-149 with 59 professionals and one amateur making the grade

Steady start

Prasad, in his second season as a professional, had a steady start with pars on the first six holes including a par save with a chip-in on the fourth.

Prasad, 19, who became the youngest Indian to earn an Asian Tour card at age 17 in early 2017, then followed up his birdie and a double-bogey to make the turn at one-over.

The man with three top-10s on the PGTI this year went on to add three birdies and a bogey on the back-nine to end up with a 71 and said later, “My ball-striking has been outstanding so far this week.

“I’ve also converted some crucial putts over the first two days. Today it was all about keeping it in play which I managed to do well.

“My best shot was the approach from 235 yards on the par-5 14^th which landed 10 feet short of the green and rolled on to the putting surface to set up a 20-foot two-putt for birdie.

Perera mixed four birdies with three bogeys in his round of 71, landing it within five feet on three occasions. His shot of the day was the third shot from 75 yards out on the par-5 14^th which he almost holed.

Angad Cheema was four-under for the day through 14 holes and was looking good for the sole lead. However, two bogeys on the last four holes pushed him back to tied third at three-under-141 alongside Rohana.

A four-way tie for fifth place at two-under-142 included overnight joint leader Chiragh Kumar (73) of Delhi, C. Muniyappa (70) of Bangalore, Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah (68) and Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh (71).

Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, who finished fourth in Jaipur last week, was the only amateur to make the cut at tied 17^th at one-over-145 alongside Jeev.

Tough going for the ladies

At the DLF Golf and Country Club, none of the field even managed par in the first round of the 14^th leg of Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour on Wednesday.

The event is being played on the Gary Player layout, which will be the same that is to be used for the Hero Women’s Indian Open later this year.

Millie Saroha, who holed her second shot on the par-4 seventh for an eagle-two, carded 77 as did Gaurika Bishnoi, to share the lead.

They were a shot ahead of Afshan Fatima who won last week at Greater Noida. Afshan may well have been in the lead but for a triple bogey eight on the par-5 15^th. Tvesa Malik (79) was fourth, while Amandeep Drall and amateurs Sifat Sagoo and Rhea Saravanan shot 80s for tied-5^th.

Sonam Chugh was eighth, while Neha Tripathi and Khushi Khanijau were Tied-9^th. Astha Madan in her maiden pro event carded 85.

Also read: India in 28-strong field for Melbourne World Cup of Golf