Chikka fighting to save his card, lies sixth in Jakarta

India's S Chikkarangappa finally found some rhythm in his game as he added a 5-under 67 to his first round 4-under 68 to sit nicely at tied-6th place in the Indonesian Masters on Friday.

Chikka still looking for his maiden Asian Tour win, is now six shots behind England's Justin Rose who continued to stay ahead of the chasing pack. Chikka, lying 67th on the Money list needs to get into top-61 to save his card.

Rose had not completed his second round, which was interrupted twice by inclement weather. Rose was five-under through 16 holes and at 15-under he was holding a two-shot lead over Thailands Kiradech Aphibarnrat (68-64).
 

Shubhankar riding a wave which led him to a fine win last week in South Africa made up for his first 71 with a 67 that took him to 6-under 138 alongside Gaganjeet Bhullar (67-71). Also at 6-under was Shiv Kapur, who was 4-under through his 16 holes.

Among other Indians Ajeetesh Sandhu (72-68) was T-30th, Honey Baisoya (72-69) was tied 34th, while Rashid Khan (72-70) and Jyoti Randhawa (75-67) were tied 51st at 2-under.

With the cut likely at even par or one-over Rahil Gangjee was in danger zone at one-over but had four more holes to play.

SSP Chawrasia (73-73) was T-96th, Himmat Rai (74-74), Sujjan Singh (75-74) and Khalin Joshi (79-71) were further behind. Jeev Milkha Singh and Chiragh Kumar pulled out.

Chikka said:"It was a much needed round, I am very happy with how I played. Nine-under puts me right up there and I am really looking forward to the next two rounds. The season has not been good for me, missed close to about 15 cuts this year, probably one of the worst in my golfing career.

"But its okay there have been a lot of positives which I will take over next year, so hopefully I can end the year on a good day. I just went back home and met Anirban (Lahiri) to have a chat with him and get some things off my mind. I also met with a psychologist."

The second round was suspended twice because of lightning threats. Officials later decided to call off play at 5.40pm due to fading light at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.

Play will resume at 6.15am on Saturday with the third round scheduled to start no earlier than 8.45am.

Rose is was among the 36 players yet to complete their second round.

Kiradech, who came into the week on the back of an Asian Development Tour (ADT) victory at the Thongchai Jaideee Foundation last week, continued to ride on his red-hot form.

The two-time Asian Tour winner demonstrated his resolve to end the year with another victory by signing for an eight- under-par 64 to take the clubhouse lead in the morning.