BILT Open 2015: Anura Rohana & Muniyappa lead

Defending champion Anura Rohana declared his intent to hold on to his jewels with a forceful 65 in the second round of the BILT Open in Mewat, Haryana. Overnight leader Muniyappa held his own too, but only managed a 71 to add to his first round 63. Both the leaders are lying at 10-under 134, which is three better than Shankar Das and Arjun Singh.

The Lankan needed just 31 shots for his first nine holes – firing three birdies and an eagle at the par-5 9^th hole. He was halted in his tracks by a bogey at the 10^th hole.

Rohana steadied his ship with a run of three pars before adding three more birdies over the last five holes to account for his 65.

“Even though I don’t practice as much as some of the other professionals, I believe my game is on the course. I would rather play competitive rounds than practice. I’ve been busy coaching the Sri Lankan national team during the mid-season break and therefore didn’t get too much time to practice. But as is evident from my recent scores, that lack of practice hasn’t really affected my game,” said three time PGTI Tour winner Rohana.

Muniyappa made a promising start, chipping in for birdie at the 10^th hole, his first of the second round. But he sailed out of bounds on the next to settle for a double-bogey on the next.

The former Indian Open champion showed composure to turn it around with three birdies in a five hole stretch from the 13^th.

But he courted pain soon as he made the turn. Muniyappa gave away a bogey and a double on the first and third with some disappointing club work from the tee box and off the fairway.

Muniyappa though will seek to draw energy and confidence from a spectacular finish at the 9^th hole. A nerveless putt from 20-feet for an eagle saw him end the day tied with Rohana.

“I drove badly today. After the early double-bogey I recovered well. But all that hard work was undone by the dropped shots on the back-nine,” admitted Muniyappa. “I’m glad I pulled it back somewhat with an eagle at the end. My putting was good but I need to improve on my hitting over the next two days.”

Shankar Das shot three birdies on the front nine and added four more on the back nine to fire himself up the order with a fluent 66.

Arjun made par on the first ten holes of his round before a colourful stretch of birdies and bogeys left him signing on a 71 to tie for third with Das, at the halfway stage.

Harish K made a remarkable recovery in the second round, following on his 73 on Tuesday. He shot an impressive 65 today to jump up to T5 alongside Abhijit Singh Chadha and Sudhir Sharma.

The troika is lying one shot behind the third placed duo of Shankar and Arjun. Deepinder Singh Kullar shot 69 today end up at 8^th on the leaderboard.

The field was split into half at 2-over 146 – leaving just 57 professionals and a pair of amateurs still in the hunt for the BILT Open title.