Seongnam (Korea), May 6 (PTI) Long-hitting Karandeep Kochhar fired an eagle on a Par-4 for the second time in as many days to emerge as the best Indian at tied 12th in the GS Caltex Maekyung Open here on Saturday.
With rounds of 69-69, Kochhar was 4-under for two rounds even as heavy rains, which led to bunkers and fairways getting water logged, forced the tournament to be reduced to 54 holes after the third round was washed out early at Namseoul Country Club.
The third, which now becomes the final round, will restart on Sunday at 7.50am local time.
Kochhar was one of the four Indians to make the cut and that included veteran Jeev Milkha Singh (71-70), who despite missing a lot of fairways and greens in regulation hung in for a 1-under 70 and made the cut in tied 41st place alongside Honey Baisoya (69-72).
Gaganjeet Bhullar (69-72) was tied 57th.
Shiv Kapur (73-71) and Ajeetesh Sandhu 72-72 missed the cut on a day when it was raining and was gloomy.
Unheralded Korean Chanmin Jung led the tournament after two rounds. He was 11 under, two ahead of Korea’s Junghwan Lee and four ahead of his compatriots Yubin Jang, an amateur, Taeyang Jung, and Bio Kim — the defending champion.
This is only the second time in its history that the event — first played in 1982 — has been reduced to three rounds. The other occasion was in 1998 when Hong Kong’s Scott Rowe triumphed at Lakeview.
Just six weeks ago Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho, who surprisingly missed the cut this week, won the World City Championship at the Hong Kong Golf Club after the tournament was reduced to 54 holes due to inclement weather.
Only a handful of groups teed off this morning when play eventually started at 11.30am local time, before the round was cancelled just 40 minutes later.
Source: PTI News
