New Delhi, April 1, 2009: The second round of the SRF All India Professional Golf Matchplay Championship saw DGC golfer Pappan spring a surprise as he triumphed over SSP Chowrasia, one of the tournament favourites. Pappan came through with a huge margin of 6 & 5. In another key encounter, Sri Lanka’s Anura Rohana got the better of defending champion and ninth seed Arjun Singh with a 3 & 2 victory. Australia’s Kunal Bhasin also made his presence felt as he ended sixth seed C Muniyappa’s campaign 3 & 2.

Anura Rohana

Meanwhile, top contenders such as Mukesh Kumar, Gaurav Ghei, Ashok Kumar, Shamim Khan and Rahul Ganapathy kept their title hopes alive by advancing to the pre-quarter finals.

Pappan, elder brother of PGTI member Shamim Khan, capitalized on a solid start to register a comprehensive 6 & 5 win over 2008 Indian Masters champion SSP Chowrasia.

Pappan said, “My putting and driving was excellent in round two. I got off to a good start with three wins on the first four holes and as a result was two ahead after the eighth. I then managed to put the match beyond SSP’s reach with wins on four consecutive holes from the ninth to the 12th.”

“I made only one major mistake during the second round, missing a two and a half feet putt for par on the sixth. SSP did not seem to be at his best today,” added the 42-year-old.

Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka also hogged the limelight after he ended reigning champion Arjun Singh’s challenge with a 3 & 2 result.

“I was in great putting form today. I made 21 putts in 16 holes. I was not happy with my putting form so I had been working very hard on it for the last few days. In fact, I even practiced for quite some time before my match today. I made a crucial 20 feet putt for birdie to halve the sixth hole and then sank a 15-footer for birdie to win the 12th hole,”
said Rohana.

He went on to add, “It feels highly satisfying to beat the defending champion. However, when I teed-off today I did not realize that I was playing against the reigning champion.”

Another strong contender and Asian Tour regular C Muniyappa crashed out of the tournament when he lost out to Kunal Bhasin 3 & 2.

Kunal Bhasin

“I putted well through the day and dominated from the sixth hole to the 12th, winning five out of those seven holes. I knocked in a 35 feet putt on the sixth for birdie and a 45 feet putt on the 12th for another birdie. I was confident of winning after taking four straight holes from the ninth to the 12th. Muniyappa did not play up to his potential today and seemed a little out of form,” said Bhasin.

Mukesh Kumar, the top seed, went through to the round of 16 by defeating Randhir Singh Ghotra 3 & 2 while Gaurav Ghei got past Harendra Gupta 1 Up. Fifth seed Ashok Kumar outplayed Mohd Islam 2 & 1 even as second seed Shamim Khan eliminated Gurki Shergill 3 & 2. Third seed Rahul Ganapathy defeated Amandeep Johl 2 & 1.

Jaiveer Virk, Om Prakash Chouhan and Amit Dube, the giant killers from round one were all eliminated on Wednesday. Naman Dawar beat Jaiveer Virk 1 Up, Shankar Das outclassed Om Prakash Chouhan 1 Up and Gurbaaz Mann defeated Amit Dube 2 & 1. In another important match, Ranjit Singh of Chandigarh sent Sanjay Kumar packing with a 2 & 1 margin.

The pre-quarters and the quarter finals will be played on Thursday, April 2.

MATCH NO.	TIME	PLAYER (Seed Number)	Vs	PLAYER (Seed Number)
1	6:39	Mukesh Kumar (1)	Vs	Pappan (48)
2	6:46	Gaurav Ghei (40)	Vs	Anura Rohana (41)
3	6:53	Naman Dawar (36)	Vs	Vikrant Chopra (13)
4	7:00	Ashok Kumar (5)	Vs	Shankar Das (21)
5	7:07	Shamim Khan (2)	Vs	Ranjit Singh (18)
6	7:14	Gurbaaz P S Mann (26)	Vs	Vivek Bhandari (42)
7	7:21	Rahul Ganapathy (3)	Vs	Raju Ali Mollah (19)
8	7:28	Kunal Bhasin (38)	Vs	Vijay Kumar (11)