Kolkata's Raju Ali Mollah (70, 67) shot the best round of the day to become the joint leader after round two of the PGTI Players Championship in the garden city on Thursday.
Kolkata's Raju Ali Mollah (70, 67) shot the best round of the day to become the joint leader after round two of the PGTI Players Championship in the garden city on Thursday.
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Mollah's five-under 67 propelled him from an overnight tied 11th to the top of the leaderboard. Kapurthala-based Gaganjeet Bhullar (68, 69), a three-time winner on the PGTI this year, shares the lead with Mollah as the two have matching totals of seven under 137.
Ali Sher (66, 72), the joint leader from round one and Sri Lankan professional Anura Rohana (67, 71) are tied third at six under 138.
The cut was declared at four-over 148. Fifty-two professionals and two amateurs made the cut.
Raju Ali Mollah (31) who is currently ranked 18th on the PGTI Order of Merit, began with a bogey on the 10th, where he made a three-putt from 10 feet. He then picked up four birdies in a row from the 14th to the 17th as he began sinking putts at will.
He sank a couple of 10 feet putts for birdies on the 14th and 15th and then converted three six footers to pick up three more birdies on the 16th, 17th and second. The par three third saw him chip-in (lob wedge) for birdie from 12 feet.
Raju said: "My chipping and putting was much better than yesterday. I've been working on the mental aspect of my game recently since I blew away a seven-stroke lead heading into the final day at a PGTI event in Jaipur few months back. The title was then in my grasp but I let it slip away by trying to play safe on the final day and ultimately finished tied fifth. I'll try my best not to repeat those mistakes."
Bhullar, who was overnight tied fifth, began well as he birdied the second. The Asian Tour regular then missed an up and down from the bunker on the fifth and therefore, dropped a stroke. Bhullar garnered another birdie on the seventh to make the turn at one under.
On the par-five 10th, he converted a 20 feet putt for eagle. He picked up his last birdie of the round on the par-four 11th when his lob wedge approach shot landed one foot short of the flag. Bhullar bogeyed the 18th to close with three under 69 as he missed yet another up and down from the bunker.
"I should have had a much lower score today but I'm still trying to adjust to the speed of the greens. I'm focusing on my short game at the moment as my ball-striking has been pretty good," said Bhullar.
Ali Sher, the old war horse, returned even par 72 in round two to be placed just one stroke behind the joint leaders in tied third place. Anura Rohana turned in a one under 71 to share third place with Ali Sher.
Bangalore-based amateur Abhishek Jha (66, 73), shares fifth place along with Vinod Kumar (67, 72), Digvijay Singh (71, 68) and Raj Randhawa (68, 71) at five under 139. Jha, the overnight leader, slipped to tied fifth as he carded one over 73 Thursday.
Bangalore golfers R Srinivas (three under 141) and Gaurav Diwan (one under 143) are placed 10th and tied 13th, respectively while Mysore's Rahul Ganapathy lies tied 21st at one over 145. Mukesh Kumar's two over 146 total placed him tied 28th.
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