Lahiri leaves competition trailing with 7-under 65

Anirban Lahiri calls it déjà vu,and it is difficult to disagree. In a repeat of the 2008 edition,the Bangalore golfer leads the field at the halfway mark of the BILT Open....

Anirban Lahiri calls it déjà vu,and it is difficult to disagree. In a repeat of the 2008 edition,the Bangalore golfer leads the field at the halfway mark of the BILT Open,and what is even more striking,he aggregates 13-under 131 exactly the same number after two rounds. But the similarity ends there,or so insists Lahiri,having carded a seven-under 65 on Friday to open up a three-stroke cushion at the top. The last time when he was in this position,excitement got the better of him. Now,he says,he is relaxed and is taking it one round at a time.

Last year I couldnt sleep well,partly because I was excited to be in the lead ahead of Jeev (Milkha Singh) and Jyoti (Randhawa) and also because I had to finish two rounds in a day (after the play had been suspended on the second day), he recalled. This time Im not going to lose my sleep on what happens on Sunday. I am not even thinking about that. Im just going to go out there and play with one target: to stay in the 60s. Im more relaxed and confident as I dont have to prove anything.

Lahiri did prove it again,though,that hes the man to watch out for on the tour. There isnt much scope of improvement if you are coming off a round of 66 on the previous day,nonetheless he bettered it with blemish-free golf on Friday.

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Starting on the 10th hole,he birdied the 12th,14th and 18th the latter two being the holes where he had dropped shots in the first round. He hit four more birdies on the back nine,but the stroke of the day came on the last hole when his bunker shot from 45 yards stopped just short of the pin and he just tapped it in for a par.

Leaderboard: 13-under: Anirban Lahiri (66,65); 10-under: Amardeep Malik (68,66); 9-under: Himmat Singh Rai (68,67); 8-under: Vikrant Chopra (66,70),Harendra Gupta (68,68) Mukesh Kumar (70,66)

Randhawa up to tied eighth

Shanghai: Jyoti Randhawa remained in the hunt for a top-five finish,carding a two-under 70 to be tied eighth after the midway stage of the WGC-HSBC Champions. C Muniyappa (69) rose to tied 37th at 143,while Jeev Milkha Singh (72) was tied 45th after the second round. Tiger Woods shared the halfway lead with Nick Watney after shooting five-under 67.

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