Amardeep Malik’s hot putter helped him surge ahead by two strokes in round two of the Coal India Open, an INR 1 crore event, being played at the Kensville Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad. Amardeep (69-65) struck a score of seven-under 65 on Wednesday to total 10-under 134 for the week.
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Angad Cheema (69-67), who was the overnight joint leader along with Malik, posted a 67 on day two to be placed second at eight-under 136.
Shaurya Bhattacharya (71-66) shot a 66 on day two to be placed third at seven-under 137.
The halfway cut fell at five-over 149. Fifty-three professionals and one amateur made the cut.
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Amardeep began the day with a 15-feet birdie conversion on the 10th. He then went on to pick up four more birdies from a range of eight to 20 feet on the back-nine.
Amardeep’s hot streak with the putter continued on the front-nine as he sank birdies from 25 feet and a mammoth 50 feet on the first and third holes respectively. Malik, a two-time winner on the PGTI, capped his round with a bogey and birdie on the fifth and sixth.
Amardeep said, “I tried to hit the safest shot possible today and as a result found most fairways and greens. I guess I also got lucky on the tough greens today as I converted a lot of long putts. One has to be careful with the speed because the speed is really tricky on these greens. I think sometimes a player gets into a zone where it just feels easy.
“I haven’t played a lot of golf in the last two and a half months as I recently became a father. But I’m just glad to be back on the course and competing in the very first event after the resumption of the season.”
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Angad, who recently played the qualifying event for The Open in the UK, came up with a 40-feet eagle conversion on the sixth along with five birdies and two bogeys.
Rakshit Dahiya (72-71), the only amateur in the field, made the cut as he was placed an impressive tied 12th at a total of one-under 143.
Local lad Varun Parikh (74-70) was a further shot back in tied 15th position. Varun was the only Ahmedabad-based player to make the cut.
 struck a score of seven-under 65 on to total 10-under 134 for the week at the Coal India Open.){kind=link}