Rashid Khan takes slim lead into KDGT Invitational final round

By Rahul Banerji

Rashid Khan led the way on 6-under 138 after round two of the Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational 2023 at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on Friday.

Two-time international winner Khan (68-70), a three-time PGTI Order of Merit champion, followed an opening 68 with a steady 70 on Friday that saw him continue at the top of the leaderboard.

Karan Pratap Singh (68-71), the joint first-round leader along with Rashid, slipped to tied second place after a 71 in round two took his total to 5-under 139, the PGTI said

Overnight clubhouse leader Sunhit Bishnoi (69-70), who had played his second round on Thursday, shared second place with Singh.

Round two resumed late on Friday as well thanks to fog and the 84 players who had not completed the second round finally managed to do so.

Thanks to the repeated delays on the first two days, the tournament has been reduced to a 54-hole event and the third and final round will be played on Saturday.

Novel format

The cut was declared at 6-over 150 and 53 professionals made it to the final money round. They will now be joined by amateurs for the Pro-Am Team Championship alongside the main event.

There will be two professionals and two amateurs in each group.

Rashid Khan, a 10^th tee starter, began promisingly with two long birdie conversions in his first three holes. Khan dropped a couple of shots thereafter but negated them with birdies on two par-5s where he narrowly missed 10 to 12-foot eagle putts.

Rashid said, “I hit the ball well today but couldn’t make as many putts as I would’ve liked. I was struggling a bit with the lines on the greens but other than that I had a decent round.

“My placement was good, I made 16 greens in regulation and also hit it fairly close to the flags so missing the putts was disappointing.

“I got a break yesterday because of the delay on the first two days. I managed to get some practice yesterday. With the delayed starts like once again today, one has to be mentally switched on all the time otherwise you can lose momentum.

Going well

“Just a little wary of losing my momentum due to the long gap between my two rounds but it turned out well for me today.”

Mysore’s Yashas Chandra M S (68), individual gold medallist at the recent National Games, was fourth on 4-under 140 after he carded a 68 which was the day’s best score.

Tata Steel PGTI Ranking leader Om Prakash Chouhan was tied 34^th on 5-over 149 while defending champion Varun Parikh was tied 46^th on 6-over 150.

Earlier in the day at 8:30 am, former cricketers including India’s Ajit Agarkar, Australia’s Micheal Bevan and New Zealand’s Ross Taylor teed off as part of two celebrity fourballs.

The others were Indian lady professionals Tvesa Malik and Vani Kapoor, tournament host Kapil Dev, Grant Thornton Bharat CEO Vishesh Chandiok, and Grant Thornton Bharat senior partner Deepankar Sanwalka.

Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh visited the course on Friday to follow proceedings. 

Round 2 leaders

138: Rashid Khan (68-70)

139: Karan Pratap Singh (68-71); Sunhit Bishnoi (69-70)

140: Yashas Chandra M S (72-68)

Also read: Bishnoi is clubhouse leader at KDGT 2023 on fog-hit day two