Arjun Singh consolidates lead

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, NOV. 2. Arjun Singh played a waiting game, allowing others to make the charge, but still came out unscathed consolidating his lead by three strokes at the halfway stage in the Honda-Siel PGA championship at the Delhi Golf Club course here on Friday.

Having done the hard work on the opening day with a eight-under 64, Arjun Singh carded a decent second round of 69 to remain the sole leader with an aggregate of 11-under 133.

Three strokes behind Arjun was Mukesh Kumar, who struggled with his putting on the back nine. Mukesh, the current Order of Merit leader, posted 70 and kept himself in contention going into the weekend rounds.

Two-time winner Uttam Singh Mundy made a late charge despite two bogies on the home stretch. Mundy birdied the par-3 17th to sneak into the third position and to have a chance to be in the leader group on Saturday. He scored 70 to be six-under 138.

With the course playing differently under windy conditions on Friday compared to the opening day, the tournament looked to be still wide open.

Amritinder Singh leads a bunch of five players who are tied on the fourth position with a score of five-under 139. Besides Amritinder, Sweden's Daniel Chopra, Digvijay Singh, veteran Rohtas Singh and Shiv Prakash were the others in this bunch.

As on the first day, Arjun Singh birdied the par-5 first, but he regretted that he could not birdie the other three par-fives. ``I have been playing the two rounds without using a driver. May be that is affecting my approach to the greens,'' said the Delhi pro who had another bogey-free day. His other birdies came on the par-3 seventh and par-4 15th.

``I will persist with three-wood for the tee shots for a couple of holes tomorrow and if it doesn't work out, I'll change my plan and use the driver,'' said Arjun Singh about his strategy of taking a more aggressive attitude in the last two rounds.

Second-placed Mukesh Kumar blew away a good chance to catch up with Arjun Singh. He had five birdies, but could not keep his slate clean as he did on the first day. His second round was blotted with three bogies, on the 10th, 15th and 16th. ``I played badly after the turn as I missed easy two-footer par putt which disturbed my concentration,'' said Mukesh Kumar.

Defending champion Jyoti Randhawa carded a back-to- back 71 and was tied at the 13th position with an aggregate of two-under 142.

``At the US PGA Qualifying-School last week, I had everything working for me but all of a sudden I seem to have lost the feel both on the tee as well as on the greens,'' said Randhawa, who last week qualified for the second stage of the US PGA Q-School. ``The courses there (in the US) were much faster and I have not got adjusted yet to the home course.''

The best card of the day, was made by amateur Keshav Mishra, who leapfrogged the leaderboard in the amateur section. Mishra, who just returned from representing India at the Nomura Cup Asia- Pacific Amateur championship in China, fired a five-under 67.

The `cut' was applied at seven-over 151 with 50 pros and 10 amateurs making it to the final rounds.

lThe scores: Arjun Singh (64, 69) 133; Mukesh Kumar (66, 70) 136; Uttam Singh Mundy (68, 70) 138; Amritinder Singh (70, 69), Daniel Chopra (Swe) (70, 69), Digvijay Singh (70, 69), Rohtas Singh (69, 70) and Shiv Prakash (68 71) 139; Keshav Mishra (A) (73, 67), Rafiq Ali (72, 68), Harmeet Kahlon (69, 71) and Simarjeet Singh (A) (68, 72) 140; Jyoti Randhawa (71, 71), Rahil Gangjee (70, 72) and Amit Dube (69, 73) 142; Vijay Kumar (72, 71) and Gaurav Ghei (69, 74) 143; Ashok Kumar (A) (76, 68), S. Murthy (Malaysia) (73, 71) and Firoz Ali (72, 72) 144.

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