Vivek Bhandari takes lead

COIMBATORE, AUG. 17. Making light of strong gusts of wind, Vivek Bhandari turned on the heat in the Cotton City Open golf tournament here on Friday as he shot a six under 66 to go into the lead after two rounds.

Bhandari, who had a rather modest 75 in the opening round, has an aggregate of 141, a stroke ahead of the experienced Shiv Prakash, who is on 142 after a second round 68. The Hindu Open winner Yusuf Ali is in third place with 145.

In fact, given the adverse conditions in terms of the wind and the fast greens, only two golfers - Bhandari and Shiv Prakash - managed to bring in under-par scores today.

Vivek Bhandari, who was out of action for a long time following a freak accident while performing his morning yoga excercises over a year ago, has shown tremendous courage in the face of heavy odds to come back to the circuit and make the sort of impression he has today.

Last week, Bhandari finished 14th with an eight-under finish in the Volvo Masters in Malaysia and this is his first event of the season on the Hero Honda Indian Tour.

The highlight of Bhandari's round today was the eagle on the four-par 11th, apart from which he had four birdies.

``I hit the ball really close to the pin today and putted well too,'' said Bhandari.

Shiv Prakash shot six birdies and two bogeys and putted really well for the most part. He had three putts of 20ft or longer.

Meanwhile, Vignesh Ranga Rao, who had a dream round of 69 yesterday but was brought back to the ground today with a round of 83, stayed in the lead among amateurs with a two round 152. N.Maheshwaran was behind him with 156.

lLeading pro scores: 141 - Vivek Bhandari; 142 - Shiv Prakash; 145 - Yusuf Ali; 147 - Amritinder Singh; 148 - Mukesh Kumar; 149 - Rahul Ganjee, Vijay Kumar, C.Muniappa, Harmeet Kahlon, Mohd Islam.

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