New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS): Seasoned Indian golfer S.S.P. Chawrasia stayed bogey-free and fired a four-under 67 to grab a one-shot lead after the second round of the $1.5 million Hero Indian Open at the par-71 Delhi Golf Club (DGC) here Friday.
The 36-year-old, bidding to win his National Open for the first time, posted a 10-under 132 total, while title holder Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh battled to a 68 to stay in contention.
Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat and Joakim Lagergren, both joint overnight leaders with Chawrasia and Siddikur, posted identical 71s to share third place at the event co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
Home favourite Anirban Lahiri recovered from an opening 73 by producing another trademark battling performance when he equalled the week’s low round of 65 courtesy of two chip-in birdies. He tied for seventh with Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand, who aced the par-three fifth hole.
An in-form Lahiri, who won the Malaysian Open two weeks ago, overcame a stiff back and sore shoulder to charge up the leaderboard at the DGC where he won three Asian Tour titles.
Chawrasia, who won two of his three Asian Tour titles at DGC, enjoyed a personal milestone by staying flawless after 36 holes to stay on track to win the Indian Open, an event where he finished second in 1999, 2006 and 2013.
“I’m playing very well in the last two days. I’ve played here many times so I know how to play on this course. This is my first time I’m bogey free after 36 holes at DGC,” said Chawrasia, who made 50 putts in two days.
He predicts an exciting weekend against Siddikur, who defeated him by one-shot two years ago.
“It will be nice to play with Siddikur. I think it will be between us and a few other players. I feel good and aggressive for the weekend.”
Siddikur, a two-time Asian Tour winner, gave himself a lifeline in his title defence when he birdied his closing two holes after making a disappointing double bogey on the fourth hole.
Other Indians in the fray, veteran Arjun Atwal shared 13th spot after getting a two-day total of two-under 140, while young Subhankar Sharma finished joint 18th with a total of 141. Veteran Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez shot 71 to lie in tied 18th place.
Angad Cheema, Manav Jaini (tied 25), Jyoti Randhawa, Rashid Khan (joint 39th) need to do a lot of work to be in contention.
Om Praksh Chouhan, Mukesh Kumar, Amardeep Singh Malik, Jeev Milkha Singh, S. Chikkarangappa and Kapil Kumar were lucky to make the halfway cut which was set at two-over 144 with a total of 69 players making the weekend rounds.
India's Gaganjeet Bhullar, Sujjan Singh, Khalin Joshi, Rahil Gangjee, Aman Raj, shankar Das, Vinod Kumar, C. Muniyappa, Abhinav Lohan, Harendra Gupta, Feroz Ali, Abhijit Singh Chadha, Vikrant Chopra, Samarth Dwivedi, Sanjay Kumar, Shamim Khan, M. Dharma, Simarjeet Singh and Trishul Chinnapa missed the cut.
Leaderboard:
132: S.S.P. Chawrasia (IND) 65-67.
133: Siddikur Rahman (BAN) 65-68.
136: Chapchai Nirat (THA) 65-71, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 65-71.
137: Paul Peterson (USA) 69-68, Richard Mcevoy (ENG) 70-67.
138: Prayad MaeksaengG (THA) 68-70, Anirban Lahiri (IND) 73-65.
139: Marcus Fraser (AUS) 69-70, Peter Lawrie (IRL) 69-70, Jake Roos (RSA) 70-69, Mithun Perera (SRI) 67-72.
140: Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 68-72, Carlos Del Moral (ESP) 69-71, Arjun Atwal (IND) 70-70, Richard T. Lee (CAN) 65-75, Adrian Otaegui (ESP) 70-70.
141: Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 70-71, Jason Palmer (ENG) 70-71, Kalem Richardson (AUS) 67-74, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 71-70, John Hahn (USA) 70-71, Mark Tullo (CHI) 72-69, Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 69-72.