Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri tore the course on his back nine to card a bogey-free six-under 66 in the second round to get into contention at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) here on Friday.

The leaders are Antonio Lascuna of the Philippines with rounds of 68 and 69 and Australian Cameron Smith (70-67) at seven-under. They were followed by Lien Lu-sen of Taipei (67-71) at six-under.

Lahiri, who carded 73 on opening round, was now five-under 139 and lying fourth alongside Indo-Swede Daniel Chopra, whose season in the US was patchy.

Chopra has now turned to Asian Tour to reverse his fortunes and after a first round 71, he added a 68 to move to five-under in tied fourth.

Lahiri was the best Indian at the midway stage of the Yeangder TPC, which two years ago was won by another Indian, Gaganjeet Bhullar.

Among other Indians, Rashid Khan made a good move up with a second round 70 to follow up on his first round 71 to get to tied 13th at three-under 141.

Jyoti Randhawa had an interesting round. In a stretch of five holes between the third and seventh, he had one each of eagle, birdie, par, bogey and a double bogey. Overall he shot two-under 70 and is now one-under 143 to share tied 26th place alongside Rahil Gangjee, who slipped 15 places from 11th overnight after a second round 73.

Chiragh Kumar (72-73) was tied 45th, while Himmat Rai (77-70) and Sujjan Singh (78-70) missed the cut despite good second rounds.

Starting from the 10th tee, Lahiri was bogey free as a two-day total of five-under-par 139 put him in contention for a fifth Asian Tour victory at the $500,000 event at the Linkou International Golf and Country Club.

Lahiri was delighted to continue his hot form after finishing tied 13th at the Omega European Masters. “My game came back in good shape on my back nine today. I’ve been waiting for this to happen as I was hitting the ball well since last week in Switzerland,” said the 27-year-old Lahiri, who was overtaken by Lipsky on Order of Merit last week.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW