Chawrasia makes the BMW PGA Championship cut

Chawrasia survived a nervous stretch through the second round to make the weekend of the BMW PGA Championship

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Chawrasia survived a nervous stretch through the second round to make the weekend of the BMW PGA Championship

European Tour Release

May 28, 2016: Masters Tournament champion Danny Willett experienced mixed fortunes as he claimed a share of the lead alongside Scott Hend and Y E Yang with a remarkable 68 in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club. Indian golfers also returned a mixed bag of results. While SSP Chawrasia made the cut at an even 144, Jeev Milkha Singh fell off the charts with a 75 in the second round.

Chawrasia started with a pair of birdies in the first two holes, but survived a run of four bogeys from there to stay just above the cut line. He finished the round with a birdie at the par-5 18th to score 73 to add to his 71 in the first round.

A bogey at the final hole proved expensive for Singh, as that was enough to push him right below the cut, which fell at one over. Singh made six bogeys and three birdies for his 75.

Following on from a flawless 66 in his first round in England since winning his maiden major title at Augusta, Willett raced to the turn in a tournament-record of 29 thanks to six birdies in seven holes from the third.

At that stage the World Number Nine enjoyed a five-shot lead and was on course to break the 36-hole scoring record of 13 under par, but dropped his first shot of the week on the tenth and also bogeyed the 15th, 16th and 17th to come home in 39.

The 28 year old’s ten-under-par total of 134 was later matched by first-round joint leaders Hend and Yang, with South Africa’s Jaco van Zyl a shot behind in fourth.

Willett’s group was put on the clock for slow play on the back nine and he also had a lucky escape on the 17th when his sunglasses almost fell on his ball in the rough. If they had caused the ball to move, he would have received a one-shot penalty.

“I played great most of the day and then chucked a couple of horrid shots in there,” Willett said. “I had a slow walk from 17 to 18 to try and gather my thoughts and after hitting two lovely shots into the last I came off with a slightly better taste in my mouth.

“You could have just chucked it and finished really poorly, but to make birdie on the last was good and shows a little bit of mental strength.

“It was still not quite the back nine I was hoping for but ten under par, you’d have taken it at the beginning of the day.”

Hend completed his 69 in style with an eagle from 18 feet on the 18th, while Yang – who created history in 2009 as the first man to come from behind to beat Tiger Woods in the final round of a major – carded four birdies, an eagle and three bogeys.

“I’d been struggling all day to get the ball over the centre of the club, get it around as best I can,” said Hend, who won his second European Tour title in Thailand in March. “Came up 18, hit a nice little sliding driver down there and sort of chunked a six iron not as good as I’d like to hit it.

“I was in between six and seven and I took a six and caught it a little bit thick. But it was nicely on the green and knew I had a quick putt, so just hit the putt where I thought it could go and rolled all the way.

“It was quite nice and a good result considering I was floundering coming down the last few holes and put a positive spin going into the weekend.”

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