Gurugram, November 15

Gurugram, November 15

Nine Indians, including defending champion Khalin Joshi and the in-form Rashid Khan, fired matching 67s to share the fifth spot with two others at the smog-hit Panasonic Open India, which was reduced to a three-day affair.

Joshi and Rashid are T-5 along with Karandeep Kochhar, Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Vikrant Chopra, Shiv Kapur, Arjun Das, M Dharma, Shankar Das, Hung Chien-yao and Wang Wei-Lun. The presence of nine Indians in the top-15 increases the chances of an Indian winner for the eighth time in nine years of the event.

Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat, who shot a sizzling 8-under 64 yesterday, continued to hang on to the lead. Indonesia’s Danny Masrin, sole second after Round 1, was joined by Australian veteran Terry Pilkadaris and Myanmar’s Ye Htet Aung.

The first round of the tournament resumed at 11am today, featuring players who were originally scheduled for yesterday’s afternoon rounds. With weather-forced delayed starts on the first two days, the Asian Tour reduced the event to 54 holes, and the cut will be applied after 36 holes.

Joshi, who earned his maiden Asian Tour win at this tournament last year, had a great day, carding seven birdies against two bogeys and finishing birdie-birdie.

“I’m not really happy with my round, to be honest. I just played five holes well and the rest of it was mostly scrambling,” he said. — PTI