Chikka & Rashid Khan lead Eagleburg

Eagleton – The Golf Resort, Bangalore, October 1, 2014: Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa and Rashid Khan of Delhi were the halfway leaders at the PGTI Eagleburg Masters 2014, the fourth Super Series event of the season. Chikkarangappa and Rashid both fired scores of five-under-67 in round two to be tied at the top with totals of nine-under-135. C Muniyappa, another Bangalore lad, is joint third along with Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu at eight-under-136.

The cut was declared at one-over-145. Fifty-six professionals and one amateur made the cut.

Chikkarangappa (68-67), the current Rolex Rankings leader, hit it with pin-point precision on day two as he landed it within a foot for eagle on the seventh and birdies on the sixth, 11th and 13th. The 21-year-old, a double-winner on the PGTI this year, missed an albatross by a whisker on the seventh where his second shot from the left rough stopped inches from the cup. However, Chikka, playing at his home course, was not in top form with the putter as he squandered opportunities from five feet or less on several occasions.

“I set up easy putts for the eagle and three birdies today since all those shots landed within a foot. However, I wasn’t happy with the round as I had a lot of trouble with the putter. I missed it from five feet or less on almost nine occasions. I could’ve easily gone much lower with my score. I’ve had just two good putts in the last two days. Today’s best putt was a 12-footer for par on the 12th. The good news is that I’ve not dropped a single shot in the first two rounds. I’ll have to improve my putting if I have to have a shot at the title here,” said Chikkarangappa, who climbed from overnight tied fifth to the top.

Rashid Khan (68-67), the current Super Series points leader, too posted a 67 on day two to climb from overnight tied fifth to joint first. Khan’s early birdie on the second was neutralized by bogeys on the fourth and fifth where his tee shots were off target. He then rallied with six birdies to end the day as the joint leader. He narrowly missed an eagle from 10 feet on the par-5 10th and converted a 25-footer for birdie on the 14th.

Rashid said, “The bogeys on the fourth and fifth meant I was one-over after six holes. But I made a strong comeback after that. The round puts me in a good position for the last two days. I’ve had a good season on the Asian Tour so far and that is also reflecting in my performances on the PGTI. The experience of playing at different venues and in varying conditions in Asia has also helped me with my game in India.”

Round one joint leader Ajeetesh Sandhu (66-70) slipped to joint third after a 70 on day two. He shares third place with another local favourite C Muniyappa (69-67) who came up with a 67 on Wednesday. Eagleton has been Muniyappa’s happy hunting ground as he won his maiden title here in 2009.

Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta and Manish Goyal of the DLF Golf & Country Club share fifth place at seven-under-137.

Angad Cheema of Panchkula came up with the day’s best score of six-under-66. His round featured an eagle, seven birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey. Cheema sank a 20-footer for birdie on the fourth and a 30-footer for eagle on the seventh to make the cut by one shot at one-over-145.