Gurugram, Feb 24 (PTI) Angad Cheema produced a one-under 71 to lead the Indian pack but it was Germany’s Yannik Paul who continued to dominate the proceedings with a 69 to extend his lead to five strokes at Hero Indian Open here on Friday.
The Chandigarh golfer showed better application than his Indian colleagues, sinking three birdies against two bogeys to share the second spot along with three others — German Marcel Siem (70), Iceland’s Gudmundur kristjansson (71) and Finland’s Mikko Korhonen (72).
As many as 16 Indians managed to make the cut which fell at four-over.
Starting the day at second position, India’s Honey Baisoya managed to lie tied sixth after stumbling to a two-over 74, his rollercoaster card comprising six birdies which were negated by four bogeys and two double bogeys at the tricky DLF course.
Yuvraj Sandhu was the other Indian in the top 10 as he carded one-under 71 to go with a 70 in the first round to keep himself in tied 8th position. He was seven strokes behind the leader and shared the eighth position with four others.
The day belonged to world no 75 Japan’s Kazuki Higa, who went on a birdie spree, knocking down as many as six birdies, three of them back-to-back from 3 to 5 holes, in his flawless card to zoom to the eighth spot.
Higa and Adrien Saddier (68) were the only players to fire blemish-free rounds to sit on three-under.
A stroke further behind was two-time DP World Tour winner Shubhankar Sharma (74) and Yashas Chandra (71), the duo sharing the 13th position with four others.
Manu Gandas (73) and Veer Ahlawat (70) were the other Indians to manage a sub-par total, while Sachin Baisoya (69), S Chikkarangappa (69) were at par after two days of action.
Among other Indians, Kartik Sharma (73), Karandeep Kochhar (70) and Khalin Joshi (75) were three-over, while two-time former champion SSP Chawrasia (73), Shiv Kapur (73), Gaganjeet Bhullar (73), M Dharma (78) also managed to make the cut.
Cheema picked up strokes at the first and fourth holes but dropped a bogey at the 7th to make the turn at one-under. On resumption, he made another birdie but gave it up with a dropped shot at the 14th before ending the day with a missed birdie putt at the 18th.
Paul, who began the day with a slender one-stroke advantage, made four birdies and a single bogey to keep alive his hopes of claiming a second DP World tour title.
“I played well. I probably played almost better today than yesterday,” said the 28-year-old, who had won last year’s Mallorca Golf Open.
“I felt the pins were in tougher spots today so you had a lot of downhill putts where you think you have a good look but it’s actually two or three cups’ break.
“I think the key part is just staying patient. You have quite a few wedges but the pins are so tucked and the course in general is so firm, so you feel like you’ve got to make some birdies but par is fine too.
“You just have to stay patient and just focus on myself and see where I end up. It’s my first time in India. Every tournament I’m going to, I’m trying to win, so I’ll just see what the weekend brings and take it from there.”
Source: PTI News
