Atwal jumps into joint third position

CALCUTTA, MARCH 12: An entrant from the Qualifying School and a Tour veteran shared the lead midway through the 1999 Indian Open as the w...

CALCUTTA, MARCH 12: An entrant from the Qualifying School and a Tour veteran shared the lead midway through the 1999 Indian Open as the weather cooled down after beating down upon the golfers with unbelievable vengeance on the first day. David Gleeson, a 32-year-old Australian, and Korean Kang Wook-Soon, top finisher in the 1998 Order of Merit, were both five under after 36 holes as the pin positions and the tough course combined to make life difficult for the players.

8220;Fight the course, fight the course,8221; Jyoti Randhawa kept telling himself as he picked up from a three-over outward bound journey of 39 including two penalty drops at the seventh and the eighth after an eagle on the fourth.He played the return nine in 36 to finish in 75 to go with his first round 70. But not everyone managed to fight back or revel in the breezy conditions which blew away Feroz Ali, who joined the dubious group of defending champions missing the cut the following year.

Atwal, still trying to forget those horrible weeks inAustralia when he missed four cuts in a row, went back a happy man after a round of 68. Sharing the third spot with Atwal is Kyi Hla Han of Myanmar, who replicated his 70 of the first day and one stroke behind the duo is James Kingston of South Africa with 72 and 69 at three under 141.

Fourteen Indian pros besides amateur Amish Jaitha made the cut, though the six amateurs including Kapil Dev, who with 85 and 82, lies right at the bottom of the table with a 23-over score, will continue.

Leading Scorers

139: David Gleeson Aus; 140: Arjun Atwal Ind, Kyi Ha Han Mya; 141: James Kingston SA; 142: Andrew Pitts US, Mark Murless SA, Eric Meeks US, Scott Rowe HKG, Stephen Lindskog Swe, Scott Taylor US, Simon Yates Sco; 143: SSP Chowrasia Ind, Choi Kyoung ju Kor, Aaron Meeks US; 144: Rodrigo Cuello Phi, Cameroon Percey Aus, Boonchu Ruangkit Tha, Adrian Percey Aus, Thammanoon Sriroj Tha, Philip Chapman Aus.

Other Indians who made the cut: 145: Vivek Bhandari, RanjitSingh, Basad Ali, Jyoti Randhawa; 146: Indrajit Bhalotia, Gaurav Ghei; 148: Vishal Singh, Shiv Prakash, Amish Jaitha; 149: Mohammed Salim, Amandeep Johl, Anil Samantha.

Practice makes imperfect

Yesterday, it was Ranjit Singh, the young Chandigarh golfer, who after blazing the course with five straight birdies earned a penalty with a practice shot after missing an easy putt. Ranjit, however, stayed on and today even made the cut with a round of 72 to go with the first 73, but Hwang Suang Ha of Korea was not so fortunate. The Korean, who went into the 13th bunker came out of it, but then took a practice shot after that. He was told to add the penalty in his scorecard, which he forgot before handing it in.

Story continues below this ad

The result: he was scratched. Even at 148 71 and 72 which is what it should have been instead of the 76 he filled in for today, he would have made the cut.