September 17, 2016: SSP Chawrasia suffered a cut in the Italian Open, despite playing some steady golf this week. The 262nd ranked Indian started the week with a one under 70 on Thursday, but a two over score of 73 put paid to his hopes on Saturday. Rain robbed the Golf Club Milano of too much action on Friday, the second round was completed on Saturday. Chris Paisley held a one shot lead over Danny Willett, after 36 holes.
The weather has softened the course, with several scores in the sixties featuring on the leaderboard. Chawrasia, 1-under after 18 holes, had his task cut out when he teed off on the first hole for his second round.
A bogey at the second hole dropped Chawrasia to even par. But the man from Kolkata scripted a quick recovery with back to back birdies at the fourth and fifth holes. It was especially impressive for Chawrasia to do that, considering he signed on bogeys at the same holes in his first round.
Chawrasia slipped back to even par with a bogey at the eighth hole, making the turn in an even 36 strokes. Bogeys followed at the 12th and 15th holes as Chawrasia slipped two over for the day.
With only three holes to play and T55 reading at 3-under at this point, Chawrasia’s odds of making the weekend were grim at best.
The 38 year old Kolkata golfer steadied his hands to end the round with three straight pars, but the damage was long done. In a week of low scores all around, Chawrasia’s total of 1-over 143 wasn’t going to be enough. At the time of this report, he was lying T109 four shots beneath the projected cut line.
The top eight men were within four strokes of each other setting the stage for a thrilling finish to the Italian Open.
