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Journalism of Courage
Few A few months ago,22-year-old Kim Chan left his Arizona home as he set about trying his luck in various Q-schools — a journey that took him to Portugal,California,Japan and then Spain in an attempt to get the playing rights in Europe,USA or Japan.
For him,the pain of fitting his 6′ 3″ frame in the numerous economy class flights was insignificant when compared to the heartbreak of missing out on a full card on those Tours. His luck finally changed when he came to Thailand for the Asian Tour Q-school,which he eventually won. Now at his debut Tour event,the SAIL-SBI Open,he is in joint lead — with India’s Khalin Joshi — at 9-under,thanks to four consecutive birdies to end his second round.
Another youngster who is on a roll is Bangalore’s Joshi. The 20-year-old managed to retain his Day One lead with a 3-under on Thursday even as the other overnight leader,Chapchai Nirat,fell off the perch with a 3-over.
Meanwhile,Delhi’s Rashid Khan,21,showed why he is rated so highly,producing the best round of the tournament — an 8-under 64 that had nine birdies. It helped him jump 32 places up the leaderboard to tied 3rd,with Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rehman. Meanwhile Gaganjeet Bhullar (two under) recovered from an opening day three-over to make the cut. Among the notable names to miss the business end were Manav Jaini (69-78) and Himmat Rai (74-74).
leaderboard: T1: Khalin Joshi (IND),Chan Kim (USA) 135,T3: Siddikur (BAN),Rashid Khan (IND) 136,5: Rahil Gangjee (IND) 137,6: Chiragh Kumar 138
