Karandeep Kochhar and Kshitij Naveed Kaul continued as co-leaders for the second day in succession at The Poona Club Open, an INR 1 crore event, being played at the Poona Club Golf Course in Pune.
Karandeep (64-66) and Kshitij (64-66), the round one joint leaders by one shot, continued in the lead at the halfway stage with totals of 12-under 130 after they carded scores of five-under 66 in round two.
TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat and Samarth Dwivedi too returned rounds of 66 to be tied third at eight-under 134.
Related: Karandeep, Kshitij shoot 64 to grab early lead at Poona Club
The cut came down at even-par 142. Fifty-eight professionals made the cut.
Karandeep, a 10th tee starter, couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day as he holed his chip from 35 yards for eagle on the Par-4 10th. A couple of good iron shots and two long conversions then earned him birdies on the 13th and 16th.
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The bogeys on the 18th and the second holes did not derail his round as Karandeep rallied with a great recovery shot over the trees to claim an eagle on the seventh. Kochhar followed that up with a 15-feet birdie conversion on the eighth.
Karandeep said, “Consistency was the key for me today. I stuck to my game-plan of hitting the driver everywhere. I had a great start with the eagle that really got the momentum going for me. The highlight of the round was the approach shot on the seventh that led to an eagle. I played to my game-plan by being aggressive there. Kudos to my caddie who guided me well on that shot.
“As this is my seventh tournament in as many weeks, my back is hurting a bit. So, it’s important for me to get some physiotherapy and focus on rest and recovery.”
Kshitij drove the Par-4 14th green for the second consecutive day to pick up a birdie there. He added another birdie thereafter but stumbled with a couple of bogeys on the 17th and third. His purple patch began with his outstanding bunker shot on the fifth that led to a tap-in birdie.
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Kshitij, who won his maiden professional title at the Poona Club Golf Course back in 2019 and has also won amateur, junior and sub-junior events at the same venue, went on to bag an eagle with a 12-feet conversion on the Par-5 seventh. He signed off with a flourish by following up the eagle with birdies from short range on the eighth and ninth.
Kshitij said, “I just feel I’m beginning to find my rhythm now after a couple of decent finishes in the last two events. I’ve been striking it really well and closing the day with eagle-birdie-birdie was quite a confidence-booster. I’ve always played well at this course and that will be an added advantage going ahead.”
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Shivendra Singh Sisodia posted the day’s best score of 64 to jump 35 spots to tied fifth at seven-under 135. The three other golfers bunched in tied fifth were last year’s TATA Steel PGTI Ranking champion Om Prakash Chouhan (67), Shaurya Bhattacharya (67) and Aryan Roopa Anand (67).