Panchkula: Bangladesh golfer Jamal Hossain continued his dominance to maintain the lead after the second round at the PGTI Players Championship here on Wednesday.
Jamal carded a total of 4-under 68 to consolidate his position at the top with an overall score of 11-under 133 at the end of day’s play.
The standout performer of the day was Sri Lankan golfer N Thangaraja whose day’s best round of 8-under 64 catapulted him to the second spot trailing the leader by just one stroke at 10-under 134. Badal Hossain of Bangladesh was placed third with an overall score of 9-under 135 at the halfway stage.
Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (68-68) along with Gurugram’s Manu Gandas (69-67) were placed at T4 with identical scores of 8-under 136 after Round 2. The other golfers to make up the top 10 spots included Om Prakash Chouhan (68-69) and Ankur Chadha (69-68), who made a hole-in-one on the 13th, at T6 with scores of 7-under 137; PGTI Order of Merit leader Ajeetesh Sandhu (70-68) at the 8th place with a score of 6-under 138; M Dharma (70-69), Brashwarpal Singh (69-70) and Sudhir Sharma (71-68) at T9 with scores of 5-under 139.
The cut was declared at 1-under 143. Fifty-two professionals and two amateurs made the cut.
Jamal Hossain’s round today consisted of five birdies and a lone bogey. Continuing with his form from Round 1, Jamal, currently ranked fifth on the PGTI’s merit list, showcased his control over his second shots coupled with his impressive tee shots as he missed just one fairway today. Jamal who carded a 4-under 68 today was tied for the first place with N Thangaraja till the very last moment, but a birdie on the 7th hole helped him take the one-stroke lead over the Sri Lankan Golfer.
Jamal, a two-time runner-up on the PGTI this season, said, “My driving and my second shots bailed me out today as I missed a lot of birdie putts in the second round. I am happy to maintain my lead moving into the third round, and my focus will be on playing my best game tomorrow and day after.”
Trailing Jamal by a shot but carding the day’s best round of 8-under 64 was N Thangaraja from Sri Lanka who jumped 21 spots to be placed second with an overall score of 10-under 134.
Thangaraja who teed off from the 10th hole started on a positive note with birdies on the 11th, 13th and 17th holes, but his turnaround happened on his front nine, where barring a bogey on the 8th and two pars on the 2nd and 4th, he birdied every other hole.
Among the other top names, Olympian Udayan Mane, three-time PGTI Order of Merit Winner Rashid Khan and defending champion Chikkarangappa S are tied at 40th with an overall score of 1-under 143.
Two of the three Panchkula-based amateurs in the field who made the cut were Brijesh Kumar who was tied 28th at 2-under 142 and Arjun Singh Bhatia who occupied tied 40th at 1-under 143.
–IANS
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