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Srinagar, Sep 16 (IANS) Delhi golfer Honey Baisoya and Bengaluru's Khalin Joshi moved into the joint lead after Round Two of the J&K Open 2021 at the Royal Springs Golf Course here.
Baisoya (67-69), benefitting from his new putter this week, went error-free for the second straight day. His second-round three-under 69 took his tournament tally to eight-under 136. Joshi (69-67), also finding his groove with the putter, posted a flawless five-under 67 to join Baisoya at the top of the pack at the Rs. 40 lakh PGTI event.
Chandigarh's Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (72-65) followed up his first-round 72 with the joint lowest score of the second day, a seven-under 65, that propelled him 22 places to tied third at seven-under 137.
Olympian Udayan Mane (65-72), the first-round leader by two shots, slipped to tied third following his 72 on Thursday. Ahmedabad's Shravan Desai (69-68) was in a three-way tie in third place along with Yuvraj and Udayan.
The cut was declared at two-over 146 and 54 professionals made it to the last two rounds.
Baisoya, a six-time winner on the PGTI, reaped the reward for keeping the errors out of his game for the second day running. He made three successive birdies on the 12th, 13th, and 14th and made pars on all the other holes.
The 25-yea"-old said, "I was struggling with my putting prior to this event and I missed the cut in the last two events. So I changed my putter this week which seems to have made all the difference here in Srinagar as my putting has been the best part of my game on the first two days.
"I had a great stretch from the 11th hole onward today. I made a terrific par save on the 11th making an up and down from a tough lie. That kind of lifted me and helped me go on a birdie run over the next three holes."
Joshi, a winner on the Asian Tour, began his day with birdies on his first two holes and carried forward the rhythm to finish with five birdies in all.
The 29-year-old Khalin, who had a top-20 the last time he played in Srinagar in 2014, said, "I've been striking it well b't my putting wasn't up there before this match. But I made some crucial putts today especially for par on the fourth and sixth."
PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar (69) of Chandigarh and Indian golf legend Jyoti Randhawa (72) were both in tied 31st place at even-par 144. Bengaluru's Chikkarangappa (73), the last winner at Royal Springs Golf Course, was in tied 48th at two-over 146.
--IANS
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