Abhijit Chadha, Jyoti Randhawa among four Indians to make cut in Mauritius

BEL OMBRE (Mauritius): Callum Hill fired nine birdies on a free-scoring day to vault into the lead halfway through the Mauritius Open. An eight-under 64 on a relatively less windy Friday, best card in the tri-sanctioned tournament so far, gave the 25-year-old Scot an aggregate of 12-under and put him a solitary shot ahead of South African Brandon Stone (67), Belgian Thomas Detry (66) and French Matthieu Pavon (66).
Breathing down their neck is a group of four, including two more Frenchmen, at 10-under and a trio at 9-under.
As for the Indians, Abhijit Chadha and Jyoti Randhawa led the charge once again to comfortably make the cut. Both were tied 35th at five-under after Chadha carded an interesting 70 and Randhawa a solid 69.
The best effort by an Indian on Day 2, though, came from Udayan Mane who offset his one-over 73 on Thursday with a 68 to squeeze into the weekend rounds. The Bengaluru pro opened the day with a bogey-free 33 on the front nine but dropped four shots in the first three holes while returning. Left with a mountain to climb, the 28-year-old produced a stunning sequence of three birdies and an eagle in his final six holes.
Late in the day, Viraj Madappa managed to make the cut, applied at three-under, with a birdie on the tricky 18th hole. Of the four Indians who lived to fight two more days, Chadha has been the most impressive.
Teeing off at almost the same time as Randhawa, albeit from different ends, Chadha got into the groove straightaway with a birdie-birdie start. He gained one more shot on the par-5 14th to complete a bogey-free first nine. But then catastrophe struck the Chandigarh pro as he misfired his tee shot on the first hole on the return trip, which led to a triple bogey.
“It was the only drive that I got wrong in two days,” Chadha said.
TOP EIGHT AFTER ROUND 2
12-under: Callum Hill (Sco)
11-under: Brandon Stone (SA), Thomas Detry (Bel), Matthieu Pavon (Fra)
10-under: Sihwan Kim (US), Connor Syme (Sco), Antoine Rozner (Fra), Benjamin Hebert (Fra)