Thursday’s afternoon rounds had literally been sprints, so after Friday morning dawned wrapped in cotton wool, the certainty of an incomplete second day was obvious. A blanket of fog kept the golfers cocooned inside the Jaypee Greens golf resort changing room, with the halfway stage of the Bilt Open still some distance away.With most of the afternoon starters yet to finish, the leaderboard status quo, however, was maintained. Contrary to predictions, Anirban Lahiri hardly showed rookie nerves and held on to his one-shot lead from Day One. Rahil Gangjee is still one shot behind, though the clubhouse leader with his completed round. And Jeev Milkha Singh still follows in third place, one shot further back. It could all change before the third round starts on Saturday, however, as Lahiri managed to squeeze in only 10 holes on Friday, while Jeev’s three-ball managed just nine.Coming onto the first tee exactly three hours 40 minutes late, Jeev Milkha Singh was already joking whether he should wish people a good afternoon or evening. He looked in a big hurry too, racing to three-under for the day by the time he was on the fifth tee. The first birdie came on the opening hole, after a huge drive and an equally accurate iron shot left him a roll-in putt hardly two-foot-long. The driver looked to be spot on as he hit another huge one on the par-five second.The second shot landed in the greenside bunker on the left, but the chip out inspired a collective gasp from the following bunch, considerably thinned out from Thursday’s Christmas holiday crowd. That was another two-foot putt for his second birdie and the four-title winner this year looked to be in a hurry to replicate that form. The third hole was as impressive, though that came in an attempt to save him a shot. The bunker-play copybook stayed shut as the chip-out on the par-three hole rolled away, leaving him to roll in a seven-footer for par.He kept his strategy of attacking the par-fives on the fourth hole, and just short of the green with his second shot after another humungous drive, he almost chipped into the hole. That was birdie number three for the day, taking him to nine-under overall.In a hurryWith darkness threatening to fall in minutes, playing partner Shiv Kapur pulled on his sweater, but his game had already caught a cold. Having looked like making his move with a birdie on the second hole, he stopped dropping putts, dropping shots instead, on the third and the fourth.Unfortunately for Jeev, the disease turned communicable on the next hole. The 37-year-old first drove into the bunker on the par-four sixth, messed it further with the second landing way off the green in the rough, and the chip more than 15 feet away from the pin. A two-putt there gave him his first bogey of the day.It’s rushing that helps his cause best somehow, though. As referees began hovering with walkie-talkies and players glanced at each other, Jeev played another perfect hole on the par-four eighth, landing six feet away and rolling in another birdie to be back on three-under for the day. The siren for the day’s end came as he was teeing off on the ninth, and deciding to finish the front nine, he stayed on the same score. Kapur crept back with a birdie to be even-par over nine.Lahiri, though, having started off on the 10th, was bringing the other nine to life. He birdied the 12th and 15th with easy putts, but missed an even smaller five-footer on the 13th to drop a shot. But two long, confident putts on the 16th and then the 1st gave him a three-under over 10 holes to match Jeev's score.Playing in the morning, Gangjee had lost his putting touch as the fog cleared, missing easy putts. He made the turn at even-par and then birdied thrice on the back nine to be nine-under.
