Arshdeep Tiwana emerges round two leader at Karnal

Arshdeep Tiwana 

Karnal, Haryana, June 25, 2014: Arshdeep Tiwana of the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, took the sole second round lead at the PGTI Feeder Tour event at the Madhuban Meadows Golf Course in Karnal. Tiwana shot a two-under-66 at the par-68 course to end up with a two-day total of seven-under-129. Delhi’s Suleman Ali, Pradeep Kumar of Noida and Pune’s Dinesh Raghuvanshi are all in tied second place at six-under-130.

The cut was declared at three-over-139. Forty-six professionals made the cut.

Arshdeep Tiwana (63-66), the overnight joint leader, grabbed the sole lead on day two after firing a 66 that included seven birdies and five bogeys. Tiwana was off to a slow start as he dropped four bogeys and made a lone birdie on the front-nine. Arshdeep turned it around with a brilliant back-nine. He birdied the 12th and 13th before losing a shot with a bogey on the 14th. The 25-year-old Gurgaon-based professional closed the round in style with birdies on the last four holes.  

“I wasn’t at my best on the front-nine as I dropped far too many shots. But the back-nine was a different story altogether. I sank a 15-footer to pick up a stroke on the 13th and drove it really well on the last four holes to set up comfortable chip-putt birdies. My caddie egged me on to play better on the back-nine and that helped my cause. I’ve set myself up nicely for the last round and would look to capitalize on each opportunity that comes my way,” said Tiwana, a former winner on the Feeder Tour.

Suleman Ali leapfrogged from overnight tied 22nd to tied second place after returning the tournament’s joint best score of six-under-62. His round featured seven birdies and a bogey. Dinesh Raghuvanshi, the overnight joint leader, and Pradeep Kumar also joined Suleman in tied second. Raghuvanshi shot a 67 on day two while Pradeep fired a 65 to rise from overnight seventh to joint second.

Raju Singh of Noida, Ravi of Chandimandir, Haryana and Kolkata’s Samaresh Sardar are in tied fifth at five-under-131.

Aditya Bhandarkar of Pune, who also fired the tournament’s joint best score of six-under-62 on Wednesday, is a further shot back in eighth place. Bhandarkar made an eagle, seven birdies and three bogeys in round two.

Karnal golfer Maniram Sharma (five-over-141) missed the cut.