October 4th 2012, Mumbai, India: Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh built a two-stroke lead in round two of the CG Open 2012 on Thursday. Gupta fired a four-under-66 on day two of the tournament being played at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC) to take his total to nine-under-131. Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad and Delhi’s Shamim Khan are in tied second place with total scores of seven-under-133.
The cut was declared at three-over-143. Sixty professionals and one amateur made the cut.
Harendra Gupta (65-66), the overnight joint leader, began the second round from the 10th hole. He dropped a bogey on the 15th after five consecutive pars. However, Gupta made a comeback with birdies on the 16th, 17th and 18th thanks to some good hitting and chipping. He then picked up a birdie on the fourth with a good chip-putt. Harendra’s second bogey of the day that came on the sixth was followed by birdies on the seventh and eighth where he rolled it in from 10 to 12 feet.
Gupta said, “My effort in the first two rounds has given me a great launch-pad for the final two rounds. I was struggling with the short putts on the first-nine today but managed to turn it around on the second-nine where I holed a lot of putts. I missed four greens today and some crucial chip-putts as well. I need to find more greens in the next two rounds in order to improve my chances. Nonetheless, this is a good position to be in at the halfway stage.”
It was a good hitting day for Abhinav Lohan (67-66) as he made six birdies against two bogeys in his second round of four-under-66 that placed him tied second. Lohan landed it within three feet of the pin for birdie on the opening 10th hole. He also found the green in two shots to set up birdies on the 16th, 18th and first, all par-5 holes.
Shamim Khan (65-68) slipped from the overnight joint lead to tied second after his second round effort of two-under-68. His round featured three birdies and a bogey. Shamim found most of the fairways and played some excellent chip shots on day two.
Delhi golfers Vinod Kumar and Rashid Khan are in tied fourth position with matching totals of six-under-134.
Kolkata’s SSP Chowrasia and Jamshedpur-based amateur Karan Taunk share sixth place at five-under-135.
