NOVEMBER 18: Vijay Kumar took the lead at the half way stage of the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open currently under way at Chandigarh Golf Course. Two consecutive rounds of 70 took his two-day total to four under, two shots clear of his nearest rival, defending champion Amritinder Singh.Vijay, Player of the Year for two years in running, was three-under at the turn, with birdies on the third, sixth, seventh and eighth holes and a dropped shot on the par-four fourth. He had another bogey on the 12th.Amritinder Singh carded his second 71 for the tournament, a one-under-par. However, the putts continued to elude him. ``I wasn't too comfortable on the course, but after spending some time on the range, I feel more confident about the weekend. As for the putting, it is just difficult to read the line, but once a player has the correct line, there's no way he can miss a putt,'' he said.Arjun Atwal, Shiv Prakash, Mukesh Kumar and Feroz Ali remained tied, but moved a spot down to third place with their two-day total of 143, one-under par.Placing: 1 140: Vijay Kumar; 2 142: Amritinder Singh; 3 143: Arjun Atwal, Shiv Prakash, Mukesh Kumar, Feroz Ali; 4 144: Basad Ali, Gaurav Ghei; 5 145: Arjun Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Devendra Patel, Rohtas Singh; 6 146: Digvijay Singh; 7 147: Indrajit Bhalotia, Mohammed Islam, Rafiq Ali, Mohammed Maqbool.Japan storms into leadKUALA LUMPUR: Low-ranked Mamoru Osanai, skipping a big money tournament at home, fired a six-under-par 65 today and helped Japan take a four-stroke lead after the first round of Golf's World Cup.``Just being ahead of Tiger Woods makes me very happy,'' said the 29-year-old Osanai, who shot eight birdies and two bogeys.World Number One Woods shot a 67 and might have matched Osanai's score but for several missed birdie chances on the front-nine and a double-bogey on the ninth. He rebounded with six birdies and, like Osanai, birdied on holes 15, 16, 17 and 18.Osanai's 65 coupled with partner Mitsuo Harada's 70 gave Japan a seven-under 135 total. Wales followed with 139 on Philip Price's three-under 68 and David Park's 71.The United States, with Mark O'Meara's 73, was tied at 140 with Spain's Santiago Luna (71) and Miguel Angel Martin (69).Ireland, Argentina, Denmark and Zimbabwe were tied for fifth at one-under 141. Defending champion England, with Mark James and Peter Aker replacing Nick Faldo and Peter Carter, were seven strokes off the pace at 142 - 71 by each player.
