Mandeo Singh Pathania of Greater Noida powered two shots ahead of Harendra Gupta after carding a sublime six-under 66 in the second round of the inaugural Pune Open golf tournament here today.
Pathania's second round effort took his total to nine-under-135, while Chandigarh's Harendra shot the day's best score of seven-under 65 that propelled him to second place at seven-under 137 at the Rs. 30 lakh event.
Pathania (69-66), lying overnight tied fifth, posted a bogey-free 66 to take pole position at the halfway stage. The 33-year-old from the Jaypee Greens Golf Resort picked up three strokes from a range of six to 10 feet and also capitalized on three of the four par-5s with birdies.
Pathania, a former winner on the PGTI, who spent most of last year playing professional golf in Canada, could've drained an eagle as well had he not missed a five-footer on the fourth. Pathania, known for his long-hitting is using the opportunity of playing at the Pune Open to tune his game before he heads back to Canada to play pro golf in the summer.
Harendra (72-65), who began the day in tied 30th seven off the lead, climbed into contention on Wednesday thanks to his improved ball-striking. The 31-year-old made good use of the advice he received on his swing from Bangladeshi professional Md Sayum last week in Dhaka.
Harendra, a winner of eight professional titles, got into his rhythm with the eagle on the par-5 ninth where he found the green in two and converted a 15-footer. Gupta thereafter accumulated five birdies on the back-nine by landing it within six feet on most occasions.
Pratap Atwal, the round one leader, followed up his opening round 65 with a 73 in round two, to slip to tied third at six-under-138. Pratap sank an eagle and a birdie but also dropped two bogeys and a double-bogey on Wednesday.
Ranjit Singh shot a second straight 69 courtesy his sharp chipping and putting to join Atwal in tied third. Ranjit, who made four birdies and a bogey on day two, chipped-in for birdie on the second and almost holed it from the bunker for eagle on the fourth.
Gaganjeet Bhullar's second round 71 placed him fifth at five-under-139. Chiragh Kumar returned a 74 in round two to be placed tied 11th at three-under-141. Rashid Khan's 71 meant he was a further shot back in tied 13th.
Bengaluru's Udayan Mane, Delhi's Himmat Singh Rai were in tied 21st at one-under-143. Rookies Aman Raj of Patna and Noida-based Samarth Dwivedi, both playing their first professional event, also took a share of 21st place.
Pravin Pathare and Sagar Raghuvanshi closed round two in tied 27th place with totals of even-par-144. Fifty professionals made the cut.
