Chandigarh, Nov 12 (Golf News) Tournament host Jeev Milkha Singh missed the cut while Shiv Kapur and Rashid Khan were tied for the top spot at the halfway stage of the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational Presented by TAKE Sports at the Chandigarh Golf Club here on Friday.

While Dubai-based Shiv (64-68) went bogey-free for the second day in succession with a four-under 68, Delhi-based Rashid (65-67) brought in a card of five-under 67 featuring seven birdies and two bogeys as both players enjoyed the joint second round lead at 12-under 132.

Chandigarh's Aadil Bedi (68-65) shot the day's best score of seven-under 65 to move up five spots to third place at 11-under 133.

The cut came down at even-par 144 and 60 professionals and two amateurs managed to get in for weekend rounds.

Jeev (75-72), however, missed the cut despite a steady even-par 72 in round two. He totalled three-over 147 for the week.

Shiv, who admitted to being rusty at the start of the week having not played a tournament for about a month, seemed to have shaken off the rust.

The six-time international winner, who began his round from the 10th, had a scrappy start as he made pars on the first six holes. Shiv then found the hole from a range of seven to eight feet for his three consecutive birdies from the 16th through the 18th.

On the front-nine, he was steady with eight pars and a lone birdie on the sixth where he sank his longest putt of the day, a 15-footer.

"I was a bit scrappy today especially on the first six holes as the conditions were a little different in the morning with the ball not travelling too far. It took some time adjusting to the different distances the ball was travelling.

"What I did well was make a number of par putts to keep the momentum of the round going," he said.

"I'm still making a few mental mistakes out there having not played tournament golf for a while. However, if you told me before the start of the week that I'd be bogey-free through 36 holes, I'd take it in a heartbeat." Two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid jumped from overnight third to tied first. Rashid was one-under through the front-nine and then pushed ahead with a four-under on the back-nine. Khan attributed his low score to his good course management.

On the other hand, Bedi, who has just recovered from a wrist injury which kept him out of action from three PGTI events in September, sank a 40-footer for birdie on the 15th and converted four more birdies from a range of 10 to 15 feet.

Olympian Udayan Mane (68) is tied ninth at seven-under 137.

Gaganjeet Bhullar was in tied 34th place at one-under 143.

The two amateurs to make the cut were Aryan Roopa Anand of Bengaluru, who is tied 34th at one-under 143, and US-based Varun Chopra who is tied 51st at even-par 144. 

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News Source : PTI