Dubai, Nov 4 (Golf news) Shubham Jaglan and Milind Soni, who had different problems to contend with before the start of the 12th Asia Pacific Amateur Golf Championship, were the best performing Indians at the halfway stage of the event.
Jaglan (70-68) is placed Tied-15th, up from T-24th and Soni (71-69) is T-22nd. Apart from them, Akshay Neranjan (74-69) at T-42nd made the cut.
Jaglan, who is at the University of South Florida, flew across the world from the United States and then spent a good part of Tuesday waiting for his Covid test.
By the time it did come, it was getting dark allowing him just some range practice and one hole of play on the practice day.
On the other hand, Soni, travelling outside India for the first time, was not even sure if he could tee up after a bout of food poisoning on Tuesday evening.
Rohan Dhole Patil (72-73) bogeyed the 18th and fell outside the cutline by one. He was Tied-51st and only Top-50 and ties made the cut.
Also missing out were Arkesh Bhatia (74-72), who was T-55th, while Aryan Roopa Anand (75-73) and Arjun Gupta (75-73) were T-58th.
Jaglan was four shots behind the new leader, China’s Bo Jin, who had the day’s best card of 7-under.
"I got to play yesterday (first round) so I was so used to the tee shot and the wind was down as well and rough is not punishing. I also felt my putting was way better than yesterday.
"The greens were a little faster today, which I liked, because most of the college events are played on fast greens. So I felt more comfortable," said Jaglan.
Bo Jin (70-64) is 8-under and seeks to emulate his brother, Cheng Jin, who won the AAC title in 2015.
While his brother, Cheng, was a logical inspiration, Bo also had the benefit of advice from India’s Rayhan Thomas, the record holder at the Dubai Creek course.
Thomas, runner-up at AAC in 2018, is Bo’s colleague at the University of Oklahoma. Thomas holds the course record of 61, including a world record run of nine birdies in a pro event.
Five players including World No. 1 amateur, Keita Nakajima (67-68), one of the seven overnight leaders, were second at one shot behind.
The others are Korea’s Kim Baekjun, Sam Choi and Cho Wooyoung and Australian Connor McKinney. Two-time champion Yuxin Lin (67-71) double bogeyed the last and fell to T-15. The 16-year-old Hyderabad-based Soni making his India debut acquitted himself well with an even par 71 in first round and added 2-under 69 in the second to get to 2-under to be T-22nd.
"I am feeling weak because I was unwell earlier. I lost a few yards off the tee. On the first day my first goal was to complete 18 holes and I got a par round.
"Today, I could have played better than 2-under, it should have three or four under. I missed a few putts. I am feeling very tired but way better than the first day."
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News Source :PTI
