Ranjit Singh takes over the lead

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, AUG. 9. A fascinating aspect of golf, something that makes it such an infuriatingly marvellous sport, is that no two days on a course are exactly alike. The ones that play the sport at the highest levels hate it for this...and they love it for exactly the same reason too.

In the event, Thursday was a little different from the opening day in the Rs. 7.5 lakh The Hindu Open at the Cosmo-TNGF course. The wind was up, whistling through the trees and into competitors' ears, the hard fairways in a water starved land were rather unpredictable in their bounce and the pin positions were not at all easy.

But the best of pros learn to adjust to varying conditions and so it turned out to be in the second round as Chandigarh's Ranjit Singh fired a four-under 68 to snatch the lead from the overnight leader Pappan of Delhi.

Ranjit Singh has a two day score of 137 and Pappan is on 138. Mohd. Islam of Patna and Yusuf Ali of Kolkata are on 140 but there are at least half a dozen players right behind them who'd believe that the leeway could be made up with two rounds to go.

Really, after two fascinating rounds of golf, this is anybody's tournament and the last two rounds promise plenty of drama. Even Ali Sher, the two-time Indian Open champion, who shot a poor 76 on Wednesday, but put in some practice in the afternoon and turned in a card of 68, would like to believe that he is merely seven strokes behind the leader and that all is not lost.

Ranjit Singh has, in the past, let slip positions of advantage in major events but he has been consistent enough and confident enough here to make you want to think that he might at last pull it off. The man on top of the leaderboard had a near-perfect round of golf, which included five bogeys, the first on the opening hole and the last on the 18th. The only flaw was a bunker shot that didn't quite come off on the 12th. ``In the ONGC Open last season, I was leading after three days but failed miserably on the last day. This time I want to win the trophy,'' said Ranjit Singh.

Surely, Pappan would like to think that he'd have a say in that. The man who shot a 66 on the first day turned in a card of 72 today but could very well have stayed ahead if he had not missed several short putts, some of them simply because he was not lucky enough.

Mohd. Islam shot a second successive 70 but he too putted badly. ``I know I didn't putt very well today but I am only three strokes behind the leader and I think this is anybody's event,'' he said.

Yusuf Ali, starting on the 10th, shot birdies on the 15th and 16th and then again on the sixth but bogeyed the fifth and eighth. Meanwhile, Ali Sher, who holds the course record here - eight-under 64 - was happy to regain form today after a tentative opening round, perhaps the result of staying away from the practice range for too long.

If the experienced ones in the top 10 would fancy their chances, then for a newcomer who finds himself in the elite company - Sheeraz Kalra of Lucknow - it's been a rewarding two days here. The young man fired an impressive one-under 71 today to share the eighth place with four others in what is his very first event as a professional golfer.

Among the amateurs, Gurunath Meiyappan played a very good round of golf for a par 72 card that steered him into the lead past C.V. Yudvir. Gurunath shot three birdies and lost a stroke apiece on three holes. Gurunath has a two-day aggregate of 146, five strokes ahead of Yudvir.

Gurunath is one of two amateurs - Yudvir is the other - to make the pro cut, which was applied at 151. A total of 52 pros made the cut along with the two amateurs. The Club has made way for three more amateurs from the ranks and 57 players are left in the fray after two rounds.

Leading pro scores: 137: Ranjit Singh; 138: Pappan; 140: Mohd. Islam, Yusuf Ali; 141: Vinod Kumar; 142: Vijay Kumar, Mukesh Kumar; 143: Bhoop Singh, Rohtas Singh, Sheeraz Kalra, Randhir Ghotra and Bunty Randhawa; 144: Ali Sher, Rahul Ganapathy, Shiv Prakash and Basad Ali.

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