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Journalism of Courage
As the afternoon aged, the breeze across the Jaypee Greens carried him haywire. And the greens stayed unforgiving for the second straight day. With two deep troughs on the card in one round — double bogeys on the 18th and the 3rd — SSP Chowrasia knew the thin line that grounds half the field midway can be harsh. And as he saw his day’s last putt sink, there was still a long wait to know if it was going to be around for the rest of the weekend.
In the end he didn’t make it. The cut at the Asian Tour SAIL Open came at one-over, and the newest toast of the nation failed to make it by one shot. There were two birdies, but the two-over 74, after the par on day one, just was not good enough. Gaurav Ghei got the rejection slip too; with a horrendous 79 today, the Delhi player ended on 151, six shots off the cut.
A few hours before, the morning had barely begun to warm up when Jyoti Randhawa and Tony Carolan crossed each other’s path.
The Australian had swelled his overnight lead to eight-under and looked strong. The Indian erased his fourth-hole birdie with a bogey on the next, and was still on his overnight five-under.
Then, out of nowhere, Randhawa played three perfect holes — making greens in regulation, the putter answering his call — to move to eight-under.
Carolan got stuck in the par-puddle for eight holes to stay at that mark. After a further birdie each — Carolan only on his last — the two find themselves sharing the lead at nine-under.
Joining them in the leadergroup will be Chinese Taipei’s Wang Ter-chang, who shot five-under to jump up to second place, one off the lead.
Scotland’s Ross Bain, overnight co-leader with Carolan, did not find the going as good today and slid down to fourth. But at seven-under, he is not out of contention.
In between, came the short drama of Fijian Dinesh Chand. Five-under when he teed off, he started out with a bogey and then struck gold. Three birdies in the next four holes and then an eagle on the par-five 12th had him on ten-under and soaring at the top of the field — Randhawa and Carolan having both finished by then.
A drop after a bad lie on the 13th and striking the water on the short par-three 14th, he fell as quickly. He’s tied with Bain and two others — Australian Scott Hend and home boy Dinesh Kumar — on fourth.
Leaderboard
135: Tony Carolan (AUS), Jyoti Randhawa (IND); 136: Wang Ter-chang (TPE); 137: Scott Hend (AUS), Dinesh Chand (FIJ), Ross Bain (SCO), Dinesh Kumar (IND); 138: Noh Seung-yul (KOR), Angelo Que (PHI), Danny Chia (MAS), P Muenlek (THA), A Groom (AUS), Mark Brown (NZL), Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND); 139: Harinder Gupta (IND), Guido Van Der Valk (NLD), Taichiro Kiyota (JPN), R Davies (WAL), Ted Oh (KOR), N Basic (AUS), Peter Cooke (AUS), Ashok Kumar (IND).
