Shamim Khan tops Surya Nepal Masters

Delhi's Shamim Khan cruised to the top of the leaderboard with an five-under-67 after round two of the Surya Nepal Masters 2014.

1979

April 24, 2014: Delhi’s Shamim Khan cruised to the top of the leaderboard with an five-under-67 after round two of the Surya Nepal Masters 2014. While overnight leader Angad Cheema had some serious ups n downs to end the day with two-under 70.

 

Until a few years ago, the people of Nepal had heard the name of only one Khan – Shah Rukh Khan – the superstar from Bollywood. But in 2008, at least the golfing circle of Nepal knew of another Khan – Shamim – a pint-sized dynamo who had won the Surya Nepal Masters with a record-breaking score of 23-under. Today, the Delhi lad looked set for an encore when he added a 5-under 67 to his overnight 66 to perch atop a packed leaderboard at the end of the second round of the Surya Nepal Masters 2014 at the Gokarna Forest Resort here on Thursday.

 

Angad Cheema settled for a share of the second place after a sublime 70 along with Chikkarangappa S who shot the day’s best of 7-under 65 for a two-day total of 10-under 134, one shot behind the leader. R Murthy was fourth at eight-under for the tournament while Shankar Das and Mohamad Sanju shared the fifth position at 137. Sanjay Lama brought cheers to his home crowd after shooting a 2-under 70 and occupying the tied-seventh position along with Abhinav Lohan, Gaurav Ghei and Abhijit Singh Chadha.

 

As many as 50 professionals and two amateurs made the cut which went at a sharp 2-over 146. Amongst the other Nepali professionals, Shivaram Shrestha shared the 11th position with a total of 5-under 139 while Surya Prasad Sharma was tied for the 16th place with a total of 4-under 140. Bikash Bogati, a product of the Surya Nepal NGA Youth Development Programme, an initiative of Surya Nepal Khel Prayatan emerged as the top amateur with a total of level par 144 and was tied for the 30th position.

 

Shamim beginning from the 10th, made a steady start while making two birdies on tough par-5 15th and the par-4 17th to take the turn at 2-under. The genial professional then caught fire on the back nine where he made a hat-trick of birdies on the first three holes. A bogey on the sixth was nullified by a birdie on the seventh as he finished the day at 5-under.

 

Sanjay Lama fired six birdies (1st, 3rd, 7th, 12th, 13th & 16th) but unfortunately his card was dotted with four bogeys including two in a row on the finishing holes.

 

In what looks like to be a neck-to-neck fight, an exciting finish is surely on the cards.

 

Top scores (after 36 holes)

 

133 Shamim Khan (66, 67); 134 Angad Cheema (64, 70), Chikkarangappa S (69, 65); 136 R Murthy (69, 67); 137 Shankar Das (67, 70), Mohd. Sanju (71, 66); 138 Abhinav Lohan (69, 69), Gaurav Ghei (67, 71), Abhijit Singh Chadha (71, 67), Sanjay Lama (68, 70); 139 Shivaram Shrestha (67, 72), Samaresh Sardar (69, 70), Vinod Kumar (65, 74), Karan Taunk (67, 72), Feroz Ali Mollah (70, 69)

 

 

 

 

Join the Conversation