By Rahul Banerji
Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu grabbed the lead with a second round of 4-under 68 at the Rs. 60 lakh IndianOil Servo Masters at the Digboi Golf Links on Thursday.
Yuvraj (66-68), three off the lead in tied second place overnight had a slow start but made gains on the back nine to take his total to 10-under 134 on day two.
Sri Lanka’s Anura Rohana shot the day’s best of 6-under 66 to rise to tied second on 9-under 135 along with Harendra Gupta (68) of Chandigarh.
The cut fell at level-par 144 with 50 professionals going into the money rounds, the Professional Golf Tour of India said.
Start of play was again delayed, by 45 minutes due to fog and the 18 players who could not finish their first round on Wednesday, had to first complete their first round in the morning.
The second round began simultaneously.
Among those finishing round one was Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, who shot a 66, to join Sandhu and Shravan Desai of Ahmedabad in tied second, three shots behind Anshul Patel.
In round two, Sandhu, a two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, was level par for the day through 10 holes having made a birdie and bogey.
Birdie run
He then hit his stride with four birdies between 11 and 18.
Sandhu came close to holing out his chip for eagle on 11 and almost drove the green on the par-4 14th.
The 2019 PGTI Feeder Tour Order of Merit champion then played two more accurate wedge shots that led to birdies on 15 and 18.
Yuvraj, who turned pro in 2018, said, “I was mentally in that state where I felt I had to carry forward the momentum from yesterday.
“I was a little anxious to begin with. That’s when I told myself that it’s just another day of golf so why not enjoy it.
“The post-Covid hard work on the course and in the gym with my coach and fitness trainer seems to be paying off.
“I’m following the same thought process on and off the golf course for the last few weeks which has, in turn, contributed to the consistency in my performances.
“The key from here on would be finding maximum greens at this course which has relatively smaller greens. I need to create more birdie opportunities for myself to keep the rhythm going.”
Long putts
Rohana (69-66) climbed 11 places to tied second, going on a birdie spree with five straight birdies as he converted some long putts and made a chip-in to boot.
The experienced Sri Lankan closed the day with another birdie on the ninth.
Gupta (67-68), overnight tied fifth, moved up places after posting a 68. The former PGTI winner began with a bogey before rallying with five birdies thereafter including a chip-in on the third and birdies on three of the four par-5s.
Om Prakash Chouhan (70) of Mhow was fourth on 8-under 136 while M. Dharma (68) of Bangalore and Bangladesh’s Md Akbar Hossain (69) were tied fifth on 7-under 137.
Round one leader Anshul Patel shot a 76 to slip to tied 10th on 5-under 139.
The only local golfer to make the cut was Deepraj Chetia (69-71) who ended the day in tied 15th on 4-under 140.
Also read: Anshul Patel scorches Digboi Links turf with a first-round 63
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