Macau, Oct 13 (PTI) Playing his first full season on the Asian Tour, India’s Kartik Sharma fired a bogey free 6-under 65 in the second round to move into the tied fifth place at the USD 1 million SJM Macau Open here on Friday.

The left-handed Kartik had three birdies on either side of the Macau Golf and Country Club. Starting from the 10th he had five pars before he birdied three times between 15th and the 18th.

He added birdies on first, fifth and the ninth for a 65 and is now 11-under for 36 holes.

Kartik trails the world number 46 Min Woo Lee, who added a seven-under-par 64 to his opening 62 for a three-shot lead. His 16-under-par total is the lowest two-round total in the event and was fuelled by 15 birdies and an eagle since Thursday.

Seven Indian made the cut in the event. The others were Honey Baisoya (68-65) in T-12th place alongside Ajeetesh Sandhu (63-70), who was T-3 after the first day.

Gaganjeet Bhullar, a past champion here, shot 66-70 to be T-32, Angad Cheema (67-70) and S Chikkarangappa (70-67) were T-41 and Yashas Chandra (70-68) was T-54.

The Indians missing the cut were Yuvraj Sandhu (71-68), Veer Ahlawat (72-68), SSP Chawrasia (68-72), Aman Raj (7-71), Karandeep Kochhar (68-73), Khalin Joshi (68-73), Rashid Khan (71-71), Viraj Madappa (71-73), Akshay Sharma I(71-73) and Gaurav Singh (77-71).

The DLF Academy golfer, Kartik has never finished in Top-10 on the Asian Tour and is looking at a good finish which will propel him towards a full card for next year.

Poom Saksansin is in second place, his purple patch continuing as he carded a 62, while Korean Jaewoong Eom, also enjoying a good run of form, is third, four off the lead, following a 65, with compatriot Meenwhee Kim, who fired a 66.

Lee is attempting to win his first title in two years, with the most recent being the Scottish Open in 2021.

Source: PTI News