January 30, 2014: Anirban Lahiri of Bangalore continued in the lead in round two of the PGTI Ahmedabad Masters presented by Kalhaar Blues & Greens. Lahiri posted a fighting two-under-70 on Thursday to stay two-strokes ahead of the rest of the field at 10-under-134. Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan was placed second at eight-under-136 after he returned a brilliant 68 on day two.
The cut fell at seven-over-151. Fifty-five professionals and three amateurs made the cut.
Lahiri (64-70), the overnight leader by two shots, had a mixed first-nine as he picked up four birdies but also dropped a triple-bogey on the 14th. Anirban, a 10th tee starter on Thursday, was off to a flying start with birdies on the 12th and 13th but then found the water twice and three-putted to drop a triple-bogey on the 14th. He came back well with two long birdie putts on the 15th and 16th.
Lahiri started his second-nine with a bogey on the first but recovered once again courtesy an eagle on the par-5 fifth where his second shot landed three feet from the flag. Anirban made bogey-birdie on the seventh and eighth to end up with a brave 70 in round two.
Anirban said, “I had some flashes of brilliance today but also made some unnecessary errors. I tried a bit too much with my drive into the wind on the 14th and that led to a terrible swing which resulted in the ball landing in the water. However, I was happy with my good temperament that helped me come back well with birdies on the next two holes. I couldn’t recover from a bad lie on the first hole and that led to a bogey which disturbed my momentum. But the eagle on the fifth came at the right time for me and got me back in the right frame of mind. I was quite pleased with my ability to bounce back today. That was one positive aspect that I’ll take forward from round two.”
Abhinav Lohan (68-68), who was overnight joint sixth, didn’t have a great start to the day as he bogeyed the first hole where he failed to get out of the bunker in the first attempt. The 25-year-old rallied with birdies on the seventh and eighth but he was back to one-under for the day after dropping shots on the ninth and 10th.
Abhinav, a part of the Indian quartet that won the team silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, had a much better back-nine. He converted putts from 10 to 15 feet for birdies on the 12th and 14th. Lohan signed off in style with birdies on the last three holes that featured a chip-in on the 16th and a 20-feet putt on the 17th.
“The wind was in play today and the pins were tougher as compared to yesterday, so scoring was not that easy. I started off poorly and really got going on the back-nine. I enjoyed a good stretch over the last seven holes as I converted most of the putts and managed five birdies. Closing with birdies on the last three holes was a big morale-booster,” said Lohan, who had finished 13th on the 2013 Rolex Rankings.
Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh fired the day’s best score of 67 that placed him in tied third at four-under-140 along with Rahil Gangjee of Kolkata, Kanishk Madan of Delhi, Panchkula’s Angad Cheema and Mhow golfer Om Prakash Chouhan.
Divyanshu Bajaj of Kolkata made a hole-in-one on the 16th where his six-iron tee shot pitched a yard short of the hole and landed in the cup after the second bounce. Bajaj fired a three-under-69 on Thursday to take his total score to two-over-146. He is now placed tied 21st.
Fifteen-year-old amateur Varun Parikh of Ahmedabad kept the local interest alive as he was one of the three amateurs to make the cut.
