Trishul jumps to lead, Kochhar slips on Day 2 in Bengaluru

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 18

Bengaluru’s Trishul Chinnappa and Greater Noida’s Sudhir Sharma, both fighting to save their PGTI cards, climbed to the top at 9-under 135 with tournament-best scores of 7-under 65 today.

The duo was joined by Delhi’s Kapil Kumar in the halfway lead, courtesy a 5-under 67 in the second round of the Bengaluru Open Golf Championship at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course.

Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar (69) and Rahil Gangjee (68) of Bengaluru shared the fourth place.

The cut was applied at 2-over 146. Fifty-three professionals and two amateurs made the cut.

Chinnappa (70-65), currently 60th on the PGTI Order of Merit, shot a timely 65, peppered with nine birdies and two bogeys at his home course.

The 26-year-old had a slow start with two bogeys and a birdie on his first five holes on the back-nine, but he scrambled well for the rest of his round as he got himself out of tough spots to salvage birdies on quite a few occasions. He made four consecutive birdies from the 15th through the 18th to come back strongly.

Chinnappa, who has five top-20s on the PGTI this season, put together four more birdies on the front-nine, including three on the trot from the 3rd through the 5th. He made a great recovery from the bunker on the 5th.

“I managed to get out of trouble on quite a few occasions today. Playing in home conditions always helps,” said Chinnappa.

Sharma (70-65), also struggling this season as he is currently 54th in the PGTI rankings, made good progress towards retaining his Tour card with a bogey-free 65.

The 32-year-old, who set a course record in Chandigarh this year, has had a patchy season with a top-10 and three other top-20s to show.

Sharma was not in the best of hitting form in the second round but putted extremely well as four of his seven birdies came as a result of conversions from 10 to 12 feet.

He had a lucky break on the 13th where his erratic tee shot bounced on the edge of the bunker and rolled towards the hole.

Sharma too moved up 14 places in Round 2.

Kumar (68-67), who was overnight tied fourth and one off the lead, jumped three spots with a second round of 67 that had a sprinkling of six birdies and a bogey.

Round 1 joint leader Kochhar dropped three spots to tied fourth at 8-under 136 thanks to his mixed round that featured seven birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey.

While Gangjee was also in joint fourth after an eventful day that saw him make six birdies and a double-bogey. He fought back well with four birdies on the back-nine.