Foreigners dominate Pkl greens

Chandigarh: International players, including a pair of room mates, dominated the leaderboard at the halfway mark of the Rs 50 lakh Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship 2022 presented by American Express hosted by the Haryana government and Panchkula Golf Club (PGC). Bangladesh golfer Jamal Hossain continued his dominance of the leaderboard at the end of two rounds on Wednesday by carding a solid 4-under 68 to total (11-under) 133 while his room mate on tour and fellow Bangladeshi, Badal Hossain, was lying third. Sri Lankan golfer and an ethnic Tamil, N Thangaraja, who has been a winner at the PGC in February 2015, shot the day’s low round, a scintillating 64 marked by nine birdies against a lone bogey dropped on the 8th hole. Thangaraja, a professional sporting a happy-go-lucky attitude, was off the lead by a mere stroke with a two-round score of 134. Badal Hossain, who hails from a different golf course in Bangladesh from Jamal but shares a room with him whenever he is on Tour in India, completed the foreign domination at the PGC by shooting scores of 67, 68 to lie third with a halfway score of 135. The cut went low at 1-under-par (143) allowing 52 professionals to progress to the money-making rounds across Thursday and Friday. Two amateurs from Panchkula, Brijesh Kumar and Arjun Singh Bhatia, also made the cut.Chandigarh’s Yuvraj S. Sandhu (68-68) along with Gurugram’s Manu Gandas (69-67) were placed tied-4th with two-round scores of 136. Sandhu, who lies third on the 2022 Tata Steel-PGTI Rankings, looks to be one of the main challengers to the "foreign rule" prevalent currently at the leaderboard's apex. Order of Merit leader and hot favourite, Ajeetesh Sandhu (70-68), was positioned at 8th place with a score of 138. Ajeetesh will look to position himself well during Thursday's third round, reckoned as the "moving day" in professional golf. Interestingly, of the Punjab twins and rookies on Tour, Brashwarpal Singh and Bishmadpal Singh, the former made the cut in creditable fashion as he fired 69, 70 to lie tied-9th. His twin missed the cut. Jamal, currently ranked fifth on the 2022 Order of Merit, showcased his control over his second shots coupled with impressive tee shots as he missed one fairway on Wednesday. Jamal was tied for the first place with Thangaraja till the very last moment, but a birdie on the 7th hole helped him take one-stroke lead over the Sri Lankan golfer.