Sport - Golf

Liang Wen-Chong keeps five-shot lead

Photo: Sandeep Saxena

SURGing AHEAD: Sweden’s Daniel Chopra carded a modest 70 on the second day but managed to take the second spot. —

NEW DELHI: Ashok Kumar saved India’s blushes with a timely five-under 67 to be the only home grown professional in the top-five bracket at the halfway stage of the one million-dollar Hero Honda Indian Open here on Friday.

For the overnight leader China’s Liang Wen-Chong, a modest card of 71 was enough to maintain his five-stroke lead on a day that was far less exciting as compared to the eventful first-round action. His two-round aggregate is an impressive 13-under 131.

Overnight in the second spot, Jeev Milkha Singh lost his place to old friend Daniel Chopra though they dropped two strokes each in the closing stages.

With all the focus on Jeev, Ashok quietly slipped in an impressive card that included six birdies to join Australia’s Adam Blyth and Chinese Taipei’s Lu Wen-Teh in the joint third-spot at seven-under 137. In fact, Blyth matched Ashok’s card while Lu Wen-Teh shot a 71.

Sanjay was a stroke behind after he returned a par round. Gaurav Ghei and Harinder Gupta were the other Indians in the pack of 11 players at six-under.

Chopra, who was four-under at the turn, double-bogeyed the par-five eighth hole after landing in the bushes for a 70. Jeev, who birdied the first two holes, bogeyed five times on the last 10 holes for a 74.

For the second successive day, warm yet windless conditions facilitated low scores. Liang, who was four-under for the day at the turn, “lost concentration” on the back nine and dropped shots on five holes. He picked up a shot on the 11th hole and then missed an eagle putt on the 18th for a sub-par card.

The day’s best card came from Dutchman Guido van der Valk who shot the second best round of 61 on this course. After starting the round from the 10th tee, he shot an eagle and nine birdies. Had he birdied the par-four ninth, he would have equalled the course record set by Liang on Thursday.

Defending champion Jyoti Randhawa escaped the embarrassment of missing the cut by doing enough. Following a poor first-round 74, Randhawa carded a 69 to survive the cut that came at 145.

The most prominent to miss the cut was S.S.P. Chowrasia, who aggregated 146 that included Friday’s par round dotted with two eagles, a triple-bogey and a double-bogey. Others who will miss the weekend action are, former champions Firoz Ali and Vijay Kumar besides Digvijay Singh and Harmeet Kahlon.

The scores: Liang Wen-Chong (Chn) (60. 71) 131; Daniel Chopra (Swe) (66, 70) 136; Adam Blyth (Aus) (70, 67), Ashok Kumar (70, 67), Lu Wen-Teh (Tpe) (66, 71) 137; Sanjay Kumar 66, 72), Mars Pucay (Phi) (71, 67), Unho Park (Aus) (67, 71), Mark Brown (Nzl) (71, 67), Chris Rogers (Eng) (72, 66), Guido van der Valk (Ned) (77, 61), Muhammad Munir (Pak) (69, 69), Gaurav Ghei (69, 69), Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) (72, 66), Steven Tiley (Eng) (72, 66), Harinder Gupta (70, 68) 138; Chang Tse-Peng (Tpe) (68, 71), Mahal Pearce (Nzl) (71, 68), Lam Chih Bing (Sin) (69, 70), Jeev Milkha Singh (65, 74) 139.

Other Indians (who made the cut): Jaiveer Virk (71, 69) 140; Himmat Rai (70, 71), Vikrant Chopra (71, 70), Rafick Ali (70, 71), Mukesh Kumar (68, 73), Vinod Kumar (72, 69) 141; Karanjit Sandhu (68, 74), Manav Jaini (71, 71) 142; Mohammad Islam (72, 70), Gaganjit Bhullar (71, 71), Ali Sher (72, 70) 142; Shamim Khan (73, 70), Jyoti Randhawa (74, 69) 143; Moin Malak (A) (72, 72), Manav Das (A) (71, 73), H.S. Kang (71, 73) 144; Shankar Das (74, 71), Chirag Kumar (72, 73), Arjun Singh (72, 73) and Yusuf Ali (73, 72) 145.

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