Rashid keeps lead intact

There were some mistakes through his round and some obvious marks of brilliance as Rashid Khan kept up his march towards his first title of the season.

The second day of the LG Haryana Open Amateur saw the Delhi youngster shoot a level par 72 at the Golden Greens golf course. His four-shot lead at the top of the field from the opening day is intact.

Aditya Bhandarkar also followed up his first round two-under 70 with an even par round of 72 to hold on to second place on the leaderboard. Karan Vasudeva,who was tied for second with Bhandarkar on Tuesday,slipped however. His three-over 75 meant that the Delhi boy has tumbled down to the fifth spot.

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It was always going to be difficult for Rashid to match his first round feat and on a windy day,and the 18-year-old kept spraying his shots all over the course. He only found nine greens in regulation but a number of good saves kept him from falling back. On the fifth,the big-hitting youngster almost made an albatross. But despite that tap-in eagle and two other birdies,on the first and 11th,four bogeys on the card pulled him back to level par for the day.

Bhandarkar,never having registered a top-five finish,was excited about playing in the leadergroup. Just two bogeys in the first two rounds have allowed him to stay in contention and speaking after the round,he said: “I was just trying to enjoy myself on the first two days but I am more than happy with the result so far.”

Hyderabad’s Arshdeep Tiwana and Kolkata lad Akshay Buta were tied for third place,with two-day totals of one-under 141. Buta,a semi-finalist at the LG All-India Amateur Championship,shot a round of three-under 69,which was also the best round of the day.

Abhijit Chadha matched that score to move up to the fifth place,but a 76 in the first round meant that he was still seven shots behind the leader.

The third round’s play has been called off due to general elections on Thursday and the players will come back on Friday for the final round.

Leaderboard (after 36 holes)
Rashid Khan 66-72 6-under 138
Aditya Bhandarkar 70-72 2-under 142
Akshay Buta 74-69,Arshdeep Tiwana 72-71 1-under 143
Abhijeet Singh Chadda 76-69,Manav Das 73-72,Karan Vasudeva 70-75
1-over 145
Gagan Verma 73-75 4-over 148
Samresh Sardar 76-73,Abhishek Jha 75-74,Pawan Kumar 73-76,Arjun Chugh 72-77,Tarun Ghogale 71-78,Suryavijay Sing 5-over 149