Kartik Singh sits on the threshold of a milestone in his young career as he sits on a three-shot lead over a starry field at the IGPL Invitational Delhi NCR hosted by Gaurav Ghei.
Related: Kartik Singh shines on rainy day at Jaypee Greens
The 16-year-old, who finished eighth on his professional debut last week in Chandigarh added a 3-under 67 on a course which was played to Par-70 in the second round.
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Hole four was played as a Par-3 instead of Par 5 because of excessive rain and waterlogging. So, the Par for the Jaypee Greens course came down to 70 and par for the first two rounds was 142 (72-70).
Kartik had a first round 68 (-4) and he added a 3-under 67 to get to seven-under 135 in only his second professional event.
Winner of multiple titles on the junior and amateur circuit, Kartik now is with hand-shaking distance of a pro win, which will be worth Rs. 22.50 lakhs. He was three shots clear of the experienced Karandeep Kochhar (70-68) at 4-under 138 and the long-hitting Pukhraj Singh Gill (72-66).
Gaganjeet Bhullar, winner of the inaugural IGPL Invitational in Chandigarh last week, added an even par 70 to his first round 2-under 70 and was 2-under 140. He was tied fourth alongside Kartik Sharma (70-70), Veer Ganapathy (69-71) and Raghav Chugh (72-68).
Four players, the three-time Asian Tour winner, Shiv Kapur (73-68), IL Aalaap (69-71), Syed Saqib Ahmed (74-67) and Sunhit Bishnoi (73-68) were all at 1-under 141 and in Tied-eighth place.
Kartik once again opened with a bogey, but again he quickly recovered with a birdie on the Par-5 second. Two more birdies on the fifth and the seventh against another bogey on the ninth saw him turn in 1-under.
He played steady on the back nine with birdies on the tenth, 14th and the 15th but gave back a shot on the 16th for a 2-under back nine and a total of 3-under.
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“The last two weeks have been really good. Last week, the IGPL Chandigarh was my first tournament as a professional and I was excited about it. It was always my dream to turn professional and I am really grateful to the IGPL. It has been a great experience and I am enjoying it,” said Kartik.
Kartik, who was Tied-eighth last week, added, “I have tried to take this tournament in the same way as I took other tournaments. I have played this course as a junior and an amateur. I and treating it the same, except that the stakes are higher and many other players are very good and senior professionals.”
Karandeep, who was a 17-year-old amateur, when he won a pro title on the PGTI, had a fairly clean round with two birdies on the front nine and then one birdie and one bogey on the back nine.
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Pukhraj was on fire on the back nine after a modest front nine. He had a bogey on Par-5 second, which was a disappointment but he picked a birdie on the third and he fifth. But disaster struck in the form of a double bogey on the Par-4 sixth. Three pars later he turned in 1-over.
On the back nine, Gill was in superb form. Three straight birdies on the 10th-11th and the 12th holes set him up well. He added two more on the 16tth and the 18th for a back nine of 5-under and a total of 4-under for the day.
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The top woman player was Amandeep Drall (73-70) in 14th place, while the top amateurs were Arshvant Srivastava (73-76) and Ananyaa Sood (77-72) at 7-over 149. Arshvant and Ananyaa were Tied-29th.
 at 4-under 138 and the long-hitting Pukhraj Singh Gill (72-66).){kind=link}