Rashid, Shankar on top at halfway stage

 Rashid Khan

Shankar Das

Pune, June 26, 2013: Delhi’s Rashid Khan and Kolkata’s Shankar Das share the lead after round two of the PGTI Players Championship being played at the Oxford Golf and Country Club in Pune. Rashid shot a five-under-67, the day’s joint best score, to join Shankar Das at the top of the leaderboard at seven-under-137. Shankar fired a two-under-70 on Wednesday.

Bengaluru’s Anirban Lahiri is one stroke off the lead in tied third along with the Delhi duo of Shamim Khan and Vinod Kumar.

The cut was declared at three-over-147. Fifty professionals made the cut.

Shankar Das (67-70), the overnight leader, made a solid start in round two with seven straight pars. Das rolled in a 10-footer for his first birdie of the day on the eighth. A brilliant chip set up a birdie for Shankar on the ninth and took his score to two-under for the round. Two poor shots on the 13th led to a bogey for the soft-spoken golfer. Das closed the day on a high after securing a birdie on the 18th. He hit an astonishing approach shot from 115 yards out on the 18ththat hit the edge of the hole and lipped out.

Shankar said, “I was solid through the day. My focus was on shooting an under-par score in order to stay on track for the last two days. The sand-wedge approach shot on the 18th was my best shot of the tournament so far and helped lift my confidence a great deal. However, the chipping was disappointing in round two. I need to chip better in order to stay in contention.”   

Rashid Khan (70-67), who was overnight tied third, began the day with a bogey on the 10th but then rallied with four successive birdies from the 13th through the 16th. He knocked in a 10-feet putt on the 13th and followed that up with a 15-feet conversion on the 14th. Rashid, who finished second in the 2012 Rolex Rankings, kept up the good work with clinical chip-putts for birdies on the 15thand 16th. He picked up two more birdies on the fifth and ninth to end the day with a laudable 67.

Rashid said, “I hit 15 greens in regulation on both days but I grabbed more chances on the greens in the second round. The weather conditions were much better today as it just drizzled for a brief spell in the morning. I felt more comfortable on the course today and thus shot a lower number.”

Anirban Lahiri (70-68), Shamim Khan (71-67) and Vinod Kumar (70-68) are placed tied third at six-under-138. Lahiri’s bogey-free 68 featured a chip-in from 15 feet for birdie on the 14th. Shamim Khan’s 67 was the joint best score of the day along with Rashid Khan’s round.

Himmat Singh Rai of the DLF Golf & Country Club and Md Zamal Hossain Mollah of Bangladesh share sixth place at five-under-139.

Saurabh Bhaduri (71-72), with a total score of one-under-143, is currently the highest-placed Pune golfer in tied 24th.

Defending champion Om Prakash Chouhan (77-78) of Mhow missed the cut as he totaled 11-over-155 after the first two rounds.