Oct 20, 2016: Reigning Rolex Ranking champion Chikkarangappa S of Bengaluru came into his own in round two of the TAKE Open Golf Championship as he shot a resolute five-under-67 to move into the joint lead along with Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh at eight-under-136. Sujjan brought in a card of two-under-70 on Thursday.
While Panchkula-based Shubhankar Sharma (69) was one stroke off the pace in third place, four players, including Bengaluru-based amateur Jaibir Singh (69), Bengaluru’s Rahil Gangjee (70), Sri Lankan Anura Rohana (66) and Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha (72), were bunched together in tied fourth at six-under-138.
Local favourite Chikkarangappa (69-67), who was three off the lead in tied ninth after round one, held his front-nine together on Thursday despite struggling with his approach shots and wedge play. He was two-under through seven but then had a quiet spell of six pars till the 13th.
Chikka’s round took off after his 20-feet birdie conversion from the edge on the 14th. He drained another long birdie putt on the next hole before completing his hat-trick of birdies on the 16th where his approach from 160 yards out landed within two feet of the flag.
Chikka, who narrowly missed out on a birdie from 25 feet on the 18th, now seems to be in the groove as he hasn’t conceded a bogey for the last 28 holes.
Chikka said, “I wasn’t at my best till the 13th hole today. But after the 20-feet conversion on the 14th, I really got into my stride. I played solid golf over the last five holes. The birdie on the 16th was another morale-booster for me.
“It’s not easy reading the greens here and therefore I was struggling to make putts in the first half of my round. Sometimes you need a little luck on the greens. Today I also found the right side of the holes and thus didn’t have too much of a problem with some of the tight pin positions.
“I’m very comfortable with my new 3-wood and have been striking it to over 280 yards. I’ve therefore used the driver only once in the first 36 holes. I don’t think I’ll need it in the last two rounds either since my 3-wood has been doing the job.
“I’ve been doing well with my new putter as I took 26 putts today. That’s been my putting average over the last few weeks on the Asian Tour as well,” added Chikka, a winner of nine titles, including two on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).
