Golf: Akshay continues dominant display, holds on to the lead at halfway stage in Golconda Masters

Hyderabad: Chandigarh’s Akshay Sharma continued his dominant display by firing a five-under 65 that saw him hold on to the halfway lead at a total of 14-under 126 at the Telangana Golconda Masters, being played at the Hyderabad Golf Association (HGA).

Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya matched Akshay’s first-round effort by shooting a tournament low of nine-under 61 on Thursday that placed him one shot behind the latter in second place.

The cut was declared at one-over 141. Fifty-seven professionals made the cut.

Akshay (61-65), the first-round leader by two shots, put together three birdies and a bogey on his back-nine as he was brilliant on the greens from a range of 10 feet. The 33-year-old two-time winner on the PGTI, picked up another birdie on the second hole to continue his march forward.

He found himself in difficult spots on both the sixth and eighth but managed to extract birdies on both occasions. Sharma’s drive landed in the trees on the sixth from where he chipped out before coming up with his best shot of the day that stopped six feet from the pin.

“My ball-striking was once again the best part of my game today. I hit 16 greens in regulation in round two and kept creating chances for myself. I’m in a good mental space at the moment as I’m visualizing and executing my shots very well. That helped me get out of trouble towards the end of my round. I’ll just look to keep going in the same fashion over the next two days,” Akshay said.

Sachin (66-61) kept pace with the leader with his own moments of brilliance during his flawless 61 which included an eagle and seven birdies. Sachin’s super effort helped him jump nine spots on the leaderboard.

Yashas Chandra and Ravi Kumar fired rounds of 67 to be tied for third at 10-under 130. Aman Raj (65) was a further shot back in fifth position.

Local lad Mohd Azhar (68) was tied seventh at seven-under 133. Azhar was the only Hyderabad-based player to make the cut.

Faridabad’s Divesh Rana made a hole-in-one on the 11th during his round of 70. Divesh was placed tied 28th at two-under 138.

Among the prominent names, PGTI Rankings leader Om Prakash Chouhan was tied 22nd at three-under 137, Rahil Gangjee was tied 35th at one-under 139 while Udayan Mane missed the cut.

–IANS