October 11th 2012, New Delhi, India: Delhi’s Rashid Khan fired a six-under-66 in round two of the BILT Open 2012 to grab the second round lead. Rashid thus totalled 13-under-131 at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC), his home course. Shamim Khan, who also belongs to the DGC, was placed second at eight-under-136.
The cut was declared at four-over-148. Fifty professionals and one amateur made the cut.
Rashid Khan (65-66), currently second on the Rolex Rankings, had an ideal start to the day as he birdied the second, third and fifth to go three under after five holes. Rashid’s shots landed three feet from the cup on the second and third and he sank a 20-footer on the fifth. A poor tee shot on the ninth led to his first bogey of the day.
The DGC-based professional went on a rampage on the back-nine. His birdie on the 11th was followed by another on the 13th where he knocked down a 15-feet putt. He then picked up birdies on the two par-5 holes, the 14th and 18th, to end up with a strong 66 on day two.
“I had an exceptional round today. I missed a couple of easy chip-putts for birdie on the first and eighth but more than made up for that with seven birdies. I converted a couple of long putts today. The good start with birdies on the second, third and fifth set up the round for me. This is a fantastic position to be in at the halfway stage. This is also the first time that I have been under-par after the first two rounds in a professional event at the DGC.
“I had an ordinary first half in the 2012 season as I was struggling with the mental aspect of my game. But I’m now focusing better and am more relaxed on the course. I’ve been very consistent over the last couple of months and would like to keep the good work going,” said Rashid, who won a title at Coimbatore this season.
Shamim Khan (64-72), the overnight leader, followed up his first round 64 with a sedate 72 on day two to slip into second place. His second round featured 18 pars.
Delhi golfers Ashok Kumar and Gulfam share third place along with Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad and Shankar Das of Kolkata at five-under-139. Local lad Manav Jaini is a further stroke back in seventh place.
Jyoti Randhawa is in tied eighth place at three-under-141 along with Arshpreet Thind of the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club, Ranjit Singh Rathore of Kolkata and Patna’s Md Islam.
Defending champion Chiragh Kumar is placed tied 34th with a total of three-over-147.
Arjun Singh Chaudhri of Noida made a hole-in-one on the 17th in his round of 75 that placed him in tied 44th place at four-over-148. The other hole-in-one of the day was made by M Dharma of Bangalore on the 12th. Dharma missed the cut as his round of 77 took his total to six-over-150.
