Indian open: Veer Ahlawat climbs into top-10 before lightning stops play

PTI

Gurugram, March 29

Veer Ahlawat emerged as the top Indian golfer in sixth position even as Japan’s Keita Nakajima shot a second straight 65 to grab a two-shot lead after a weather-hit second round in the Hero Indian Open here today.

Ahlawat (69-66) was at 9-under, five shots behind rookie Nakajima, who put himself in contention for a maiden DP World Tour title.

Manu Gandas fired a sizzling 7-under 65 on Day 2 to move to 6-under and tied-16th place. Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar (68-70) was also tied-16th.

Gaganjeet Bhullar (70-69) was tied-22nd on 5-under 139, while Rashid Khan (71-69) and Shubhankar Sharma were at 4-under. Sharma was 2-under through 16 holes when play was play was suspended due to lightning.

Among the 46 players who were still to complete their second rounds was Aman Raj. The Indian, who was 3-under through 13 holes, shared the eighth place at 7-under. Anirban Lahiri, who shot a 77 in the first round, was 1-under with four holes to go.

However, it was Norwegian golfer Espen Kofstad who made heads turn as he shattered the DLF Golf and Country Club course record by two shots, carding a 10-under 62 to make the cut. The 36-year-old from Oslo, who had an opening round of 9-over, bettered the standing course mark of 8-under 64 shared by Sharma (in 2018) and Arjun Puri (in 2022).

Frenchman Romain Langasque was 12-under after shooting a pair of 66s and a resurgent Matteo Manassero (65-68) of Italy was 11-under.

Lying in tied-fourth was Frenchman Jeong weon Ko (67-67) at 10-under along with overnight co-leader Joost Luiten of Netherlands. Luiten has three more holes to go in the second round.

Ahlawat’s round included an eagle after he found the green from 260 yards with his 3-hybrid and converted a 10-foot putt.

“I started a little slow, but then I holed a few good putts and I got the momentum after making the putt on the 17th, which was my eighth hole today. So, that really helped,” he said.

“The wind is really less this year and the greens are really soft. So, even if you end up missing it on the wrong side, you still have a chance to make a par if you hit a good chip,” he added.

The 23-year-old Nakajima went six strokes clear of the field with seven birdies in his first 11 holes. Then he had an inexplicable run of three bogeys but he fought back to finish birdie-eagle on the closing holes.

“The back-nine is trickier. On the front-nine, you can be more aggressive. Two more days and I’ll try and do my best,” Nakajima said.

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