CHANDIGARH: Playing against a field so deep powered by winners on the international and Indian tours, only a bucket of birdies could have set the leader apart. City lad Abhijit S Chadha dared higher and soared to the top of the leaderboard by shooting a very rare brace of eagles for a blemish-free round of 7-under-par 65. Chadha's bogey-free, two-round total of 11-under (133) put him a stroke ahead of international winner and Kapurthala lad, Gaganjeet Bhullar.
Bhullar, who has moved to reside in the Tricity and gets to play often at the Chandigarh Golf Club (CGC), closed the second round at the Rs.1.5 crore Jeev Milkha Invitational by TAKE with a 65 and posted a two-round total of 134. Apart from Chadha and Bhullar, the fiercely-contested tournament's leaderboard displayed a posse of Tricity pros in the top-10 bracket: Karandeep S Kochhar (135), Amrit Lal (137), Akshay Sharma (137), Aadil Bedi (137) and Yuvraj S. Sandhu (137) along with Bengaluru's redoubtable S. Chikkarangappa (136), Bangladesh's Jamal Hossain (137) and Ganganagar's Sandeep Singh (137).
The cut on the large field of 130 players for the money-making weekend rounds was imposed on Friday evening at 1-under-par (143) allowing passage to only 53 professionals and creditably, two amateurs, Brijesh Kumar and Aryan Roopa Anand. Notable among those missing the cut was tournament host, Jeev, whose rounds of 77, 75 left him nine shots back in the queue for whom the entry gates to weekend action got barred. That leaves Jeev with ample time to play a gracious tournament host. Winner of four European Tour titles, SSP Chawrasia, missed the cut by two strokes as also Jeev's childhood fourball from the 1970s and '80s: Amandeep S Johl (by 2), Harmeet Kahlon (by 2) and Amritinder Singh (by 16).
Chadha, coursing his home greens in comfort, relished Friday's play, reflected acutely in the thrifty 26 putts he took for the round. It included putts from 20 feet for birdies on the 7th and 11th holes to keep his momentum of red numbers going. "On the second hole, I hit a driver and five iron to the green and within three feet of the flag positioned to the right on the green's lower tier. I holed that putt for my first eagle. On the 16th hole, I hit driver and 3-metal to the green fringe and chipped in for an eagle with the ball landing precisely on the green spot that I had visualised. I figure that the tournament winner will have to get a bit lucky with his putts over the two final rounds given the way the late, intense rains have affected the roll of the ball," Chadha told TOI.
All four previous editions of the Invitational, reckoned as the 'Indian Major', have seen play-offs after 72 holes in regulation with the 'blue monster' guarding the 18th green coming into decisive play. The fifth edition underway also augurs a shootout and eagle-birdie fest as each of the players is capable of going real low over Saturday and Sunday. A conservative game plan is sure to lose the plot in the final battle that has been joined by proven winners and quality ball strikers. With 10-time Asian Tour winner, Bhullar, and CGC favourite, Kochhar, in contention and dangerous Chikkarangappa lurking not far behind Chadha, the galleries can look to savour scintillating golf over the weekend.
Start a Conversation
Post comment