A resilient Gaganjeet Bhullar found his A-Game just in time to carry the Indian flag into the weekend rounds at the Singapore Open presented by Business Times today.
Standing on the 14th tee today at the daunting Serapong course at Sentosa Golf Club, where the US$ 2 million International Series event is being played this week, the Indian might have thought that he had got a measure of the course after going bogey-free for 31 holes over the past two days.
Related: Gaganjeet Bhullar goes bogey free for T6 at Singapore Open
The formidable challenge that the course presents quickly came to the fore for him. He dropped a shot on the 14th for his first bogey of the tournament and then missed the fairway to find the bunker on the 15th, resulting in back-to-back setbacks.
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However, after that, his poise and grit shone through as he let the ‘processes’ take over. Quickly regaining his composure, he promptly fired two birdies over the final three holes to claw back to the Tied-3rd position at the halfway stage of the tournament.
With 5 birdies to go with the 2 bogeys in his second round, Bhullar shares the third place with Japan’s Tomohiro Ishizaka, both of them carding 67-68 for 7-under 135 at the par-71 course.
Yesterday’s joint-leader Jeongwoo Ham of Korea leads by 2 shots over second placed Thai Jazz Janewattananond. Ham (64-68) made four birdies today and dropped one shot while Janewattananond (68-66), a former champion on this course in 2019, had seven birdies and two bogeys.
Looking to build on his 11 wins on the Asian Tour, Bhullar appeared more than satisfied with his late rally. “Today’s round was very similar to yesterday. I hit lots of fairways, I hit lots of greens at regulation. Putting was the key, think I putted well at the right time like yesterday.”
The highlight of the day for him came on the 16th, when he drained a superb 30-footer downhill putt. He however, wants to stay in the moment and not think too much ahead.
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“36 holes are still to be played. Especially on this golf course, you have to be so strong from tee to green. So, still a lot of golf left”, he said when asked about his plans and preparation for the weekend rounds.
Among the other Indians, Pukhraj Singh Gill, who is playing this week at Singapore on a special invite courtesy the pathway that The International Series has built from IGPL, shot a confident round of 1-under to make the cut comfortably at T-38.
Recognising the challenging track he is up against this week, the long-hitting Pukhraj said, “This is definitely up there in one of the toughest courses I’ve played. I feel that you have to be on with all aspects of the game. It starts off with very narrow fairways and the greens I hear they’re the purest and the firmest they play all around in Asia. So there’s just no give. You know, have to hit your best shots and it’s very difficult to recover from your bad shots.”
“I am one of the longer hitters in India and I try to take at most advantage of that on any track possible. Was able to do that on quite a few holes today because I think I birdied all of the par 5s today and that was only because my drives found the fairway”, added the 29-year old.
The other Indian to make the cut was Karandeep Kochhar with identical rounds of 71 and 71 to be Tied-43rd.
Meanwhile, Ham started the day in a share of the lead with Thailand’s Ekpharit Wu and maintained yesterday’s momentum while Wu fell away, carding a 75.
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The Korean has only ever played in seven Asian Tour events outside of Korea, with a best finish of joint 29th in the International Series Japan two weeks ago. The 31-year-old is on course to drastically improve upon that this week. “It wasn’t like yesterday, today I didn’t make many mistakes. Compared to yesterday a lot of the putts didn’t go in, but I played patiently. Feeling very satisfied now”, said Ham, who has been a professional since 2016.
Jazz once again showed he is back to his best and playing the kind of golf that won him this title seven years ago enroute to securing the Asian Tour Order of Merit title. “It’s great coming back here,” said the seven-time winner on the Asian Tour.
“I’ve been wishing and waiting for the Singapore Open to come back here. The last time I was back here was the 2020 edition. I didn’t come here for the 2022 edition. But just been missing this place a lot, the golf course is always in great shape. I mean, it’s one of the best golf courses in Asia, and it suits my eyes, so I can’t really complain”, he added.
Indian Scores:
Gaganjeet Bhullar: 67-68 (-7); T-3
Pukhraj Singh Gill: 71-70 (-1); T-38
Karandeep Kochhar: 71-71 (E); T-43
Ajeetesh Sandhu: 70-74 (+2); T-72 (missed cut)
Shaurya Bhattacharya: 70-74 (+2); T-72 (missed cut)
Rashid Khan: 70-75 (+3); T-83 (missed cut)
Shiv Kapur: 75-71 (+4); T-95 (missed cut)
Sachin Baisoya: 73-76 (+7); T-120 (missed cut)
SSP Chawrasia: 73-76 (+7); T-120 (missed cut)
Shubham Jaglan: 80-80 (+18); T-140 (missed cut)
Jeev Milkha Singh: RTD due to back injury
