Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra, whose love for India is well-known, rose to 10-under-par 134 despite a late bogey to take the halfway lead at the US$ 4 million DP World India Championship.
Related: Hidalgo, Meronk, Luiten on summit as DPWIC in a race of its own
Chacarra’s record in India includes one win and two other top-5 finishes in four previous appearances. He was T26 at this event last year.
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Post his second round, Chacarra said, “It’s nice when you’re at the top but there is a lot of golf left still. But I like where I’m at. I like where my game is. I need to control what I can control, and that’s my target for the next couple of rounds.”
“I need to get my momentum going and hopefully I can keep doing that.”
For the home fans, there were some cheers as six Indians made the 36-hole cut at Delhi Golf Club. The cut fell at even par and the best Indian was still Om Prakash Chouhan (68-72), who survived an early double bogey when he resumed his second round this morning. He was T29 and well placed to make a move over the final two rounds.
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The star Indian in the second round, which was completed on the third morning, was Yuvraj Sandhu (75-68), who had seven birdies in his last 10 holes, after being 3-over through the first seven holes.
He had six birdies on his back nine as he rallied from his first-round 75. With 10 holes left, he was 3-over for the tournament, but staged a super comeback with seven birdies from the 10th to the 18th and closed in style with four birdies in the last five holes. He finished with 68 and a total of 1-under at T53rd.
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Yuvraj said, “I’ve only just finished the round, and I’m still trying to understand how I pulled it off. Funny enough, I was just appreciating the game. Across these 36 holes, between yesterday and today, I’ve experienced some incredible ups and downs. All you can do is maintain the same temperament on every shot.”
“I knew I had the shots in me, and there were plenty I needed to pull off on the back nine. I think seven-under over 10 holes is a personal best.”
Anirban Lahiri (70-73), whose last worldwide win came at this very course in the Hero Indian Open in 2015, had completed his second round a day earlier and was also T-53.
The other Indians making the cut were Shiv Kapur (72-72), who closed with a birdie a day earlier, Karandeep Kochhar (72-72) and Saptak Talwar (71-73), who survived a tense moment after bogeying the 18th and final hole.
Kapur, Kochhar and Talwar were all Tied-63rd at even par, which is where the cut line fell.
Of the seven Major champions in the field, the ones who made the weekend were Rory McIlroy (70-68) at T12, Shane Lowry (75-65) at T29, Aaron Rai (69-74) at T53, Justin Rose (72-72) and Patrick Reed (75-69) at T63.
The two Major champions missing out on the weekend were Danny Willett, who pulled out due to illness, and the reigning Open winner Ryan Fox (76-70).
Prominent Indian names missing the cut were Sachin Baisoya (74-71), Rashid Khan (77-69), Veer Ahlawat (74-72), Shubhankar Sharma (76-72), Ajeetesh Sandhu (74-78), Kartik Singh (76-76) and Shaurya Bhattacharya (78-74).
Chacarra followed his opening 67 with another three-under 67 to lead Scotland’s Scott Jamieson by one shot. Jamieson also carded a 67 to reach nine-under 135, while a tightly packed group of five players shared third place at eight-under 136.
Five players, Spaniard Angel Hidalgo, Poland’s Adrian Meronk, Dutchman Joost Luiten, Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach were all within two shots off the lead at 8-under, setting up a competitive and exciting weekend here at the DP World India Championship.
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England’s Laurie Canter produced the round of the tournament so far, firing a seven-under 63 to climb to five-under 139. After opening with a six-over 76, Canter improved by an impressive 13 shots in the second round, turning his fortunes around with the lowest score of the championship thus far.
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Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood was at five-under 139 following rounds of 70 and 69.
 was the star Indian with seven birdies in his last 10 holes.){kind=link}