Mhow golfer Mukesh Kumar fired a four-under 68 in blustery conditions to maintain his one stroke lead in the second round of the PGTI Players Championship at Eagleton Golf Resort near Bengaluru on Wed
Mhow golfer Mukesh Kumar fired a four-under 68 in blustery conditions to maintain his one stroke lead in the second round of the PGTI Players Championship at Eagleton Golf Resort near Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Mukesh, who had opened the week with a 64, totalled 12-under 132 for the first two days.
Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh submitted a scintillating 65 to end the day in second place.
The cut fell at one-under 143 with 53 pros and two amateurs making it to the weekend rounds.
Mukesh came up with a dogged performance n the day to stay ahead of the rest of the field. Starting from the 10th, Mukesh canned two short birdie putts early in the round before dropping his first shot of the tournament as a result of a three-putt on the 12th.
The 50-year-old gained some momentum with a 15-foot birdie conversion on the 16th before driving the par-4 17th green to pick up another shot. As the wind picked up, Mukesh had a relatively quieter front nine with eight pars and a birdie on the par-5 seventh.
“I’ve made 17 greens in regulation in both rounds so far but today my putting wasn’t as good as round one. While I missed two short putts just like round one, today I also faltered on the longer range putts. I set up two eagle opportunities for myself from within 15 feet but missed both.
“But I’m glad that I fought hard in the second half of the round and braved the gusty conditions to keep the errors out. The real contest begins now as both Sujjan and Shamim are playing extremely well and breathing down my neck,” said Mukesh.
Sujjan’s (68-65) seven-under propelled him from tied seventh to second place. His round was highlighted by four consecutive birdies from the fourth.
Armed with a new driver, the 35-year-old — a winner of three titles — was in good ball-striking form as he added four more birdies on the back-nine against just one bogey.
Sujjan said, “My new driver is working well for me. I’m finding more fairways. The birdie on the fourth set the ball rolling for me today.”
The Delhi duo of Shamim Khan (66) and Kapil Kumar (67) shared the third spot at 10-under 134.
Gurgaon-based Shubhankar Sharma dropped three places from overnight tied second after his 70 that took his tally to nine-under 135.
