Sentosa, Jan 21 (Golf News) Indian golfer Veer Ahlawat showed that he is maturing into a fine player as he registered cards of 68-70 in the first two rounds of the SMBC Singapore Open here.
Veer, who was 1-under through 12 holes of the first round when play was called off early on Thursday, went through 24 holes on Friday to rise into Top-5 at the halfway stage.
He had logged a Top-10 when the Asian Tour re-started after a 20-month gap in December.
Shiv Kapur (71-69) and Viraj Madappa (71-69) were T-16, while S Chikkarangappa (73-71) was T-47 and Rashid Khan (72-73) T-63.
The cut was expected to fall 3-over and those who may miss it included Jyoti Randhawa, Karandeep Kochhar, Khalin Joshi, Aman Raj, SSP Chawrasia and Jeev Milkha Singh. Abhijit Chadha withdrew.
After being 1-under through 12, Veer had three birdies on fifth, seventh and eighth and was 4-under at that stage. A bogey on the ninth, his last saw him finish at 68.
In the second round, Veer added a card of 1-under 70 with five birdies against four bogeys to be 4-under through 36 holes.
American Sihwan Kim fired a fine five-under-par 66 in the second round to take the clubhouse lead at 9-under at Sentosa Golf Club.
The American opened up a three-shot lead over Korean teenage star Joohyung Kim who came in with his second 68 to put himself in a strong position to wrap up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title at the weekend.
Korean Dongkyu Jang and Sadom Kaewkanjana from Thailand are a stroke further back following rounds of 69 and 70 respectively.
The USD 1.25 million event is the final event of the year on Asian Tour. Three players were unable to finish as darkness fell.
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News Source : PTI
