Amardip Sinh Malik (69-61) had a double-bogey start on the
first after he hit a poor bunker shot and then missed chip-putt. Malik made up
for the early setback as he rallied with birdie conversions from 30 feet and 10
feet on the second and third respectively. There was no looking back for the
29-year-old from there on. Amardip drove the green on the par-4 fifth for his
third birdie and picked up two more strokes in quick succession on the sixth
and seventh.
The highlight of Malik’s round was the eagle on the par-5 11th where
he missed an albatross by a whisker after landing his second shot just a foot
from the flag. Amardip, who won his maiden event in December last year, set up
four more birdies on the last seven holes by hitting it within six to eight
feet of the pin. Malik thus broke the previous course record of 62 set by
Prabagaran in round one.
Amardip said, “It was a great recovery after the
double-bogey start. I just carried on after the two long conversions on the
second and third. I was hitting it close throughout. I enjoyed some good
stretches from the fifth to the seventh and again on the 11th and 12thand the
last four holes. I could’ve gone lower today had I not missed a few short
putts.
“I’m enjoying the conditions here at the HGC and I’ll look
to build on this effort in the next two days. The win at the end of last year
was a morale-booster and I’ve been playing good golf since then,” added Malik.
Karan Taunk (65-66) moved up two places from his overnight
tied fourth after a determined effort of 66. He had two long putts and two good
chip-putts. Taunk, the 2014 PGTI Emerging Player of the Year, capitalized on
the three par-5s, the eighth, ninth and 11th, by picking up strokes on all
three holes. He dropped strokes as a result of finding the trees on the sixth
and a couple of missed chip-putts.
“I’ve played the par-5s really well on the first two days.
I’ve made birdies on five out of six occasions on the par-5s in the first two
rounds. The 20-feet conversion on the seventh was almost a bonus as I wasn’t
expecting it. The two unforced errors where I missed chip-putts were the only
disappointment. One can’t afford to be on the wrong side of the hole at this
course.
“I played well in my rookie season last year but I needed to
work on some aspects of my game and so didn’t play the first two events of the
season earlier this month. The hard work seems to be paying off,” said Taunk.
K Prabagaran (62-69), the overnight leader, continued to
strike it well as he drove three par-4 greens which earned him two birdies.
However, his putting let him down, as he three-putted twice. His only bogey was
on the 17th where he missed the green.
Shamim Khan (63-68) continued in joint second with a steady
68 that featured three birdies and a bogey. Khan created chances with his
iron-play as all his three birdies were tap-ins.
On an eventful day, Bangalore ’s
Chikkarangappa and Sri Lankan N Thangaraja fired aces during their rounds of 65
and 66 respectively. While Chikka made hole-in-one on the 10th, Thangaraja
achieved the feat on the seventh.
Chikka was placed seventh at seven-under-133 and Thangaraja
ended the day in tied 13th at four-under-136. Thangaraja closed his round
by picking up five strokes on the last four holes as he made
birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie from the sixth through the ninth.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, one of the pre-tournament favourites,
followed up his opening round of 70 with a 68 on day two to be placed tied 22nd at
two-under-138. The Kapurthala golfer’s second round featured an eagle-two on
the fifth, four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey. Bhullar was five-under
through 16 holes but dropped three strokes on the last two holes after a
double-bogey and bogey finish.
Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the 2014 Rolex Rankings champion,
shot a 70 on Friday to join Bhullar in tied 22nd position.
The cut was declared at four-over-144. Sixty professionals
made the cut.
PGTI Press release
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