August 22, 2014
The Czech Masters is turning into a bit of a roller coaster ride for the Indians. T3 overnight, SSP Chowrasia conjured up a miserable 75 to slide outside the top 50 at the Albatross Golf Resort. Down in T45 after the first round, Shiv Kapur rode a two under 70 to edge up inside the top 30. Gaganjeet Bhullar also rose eleven spots after making a 71 in the second round. As was the case last week at the Made in Denmark, Jeev Milkha Singh continued to struggle with poor form. He slipped below the cut line with a 74 that dropped him to two over after the second round in Prague. The cut was set at +1 and 84 golfers remain to contest the course over this promising weekend.
Singh followed up an even par 72 in the first round with a pair of bogeys after starting his Friday from the back nine. Having made the turn in 38, Singh launched a desperate effort to survive the knife, kindling some hope with a birdie par-4 sixth. But an immediate bogey at the next hole sank any hopes of extending his stay in the Czech capital.
Chowrasia, who like Singh, teed off from the back nine made three bogeys – at the tenth, thirteenth and eighteenth holes – as he fell to one under with nine to play. He repaired some of that damage taking advantage of his power to gain a shot at the 538 yard first hole, but he fumbled at the short 219 yard third hole to give one back to the course. Six straight pars to end his round meant that Chowrasia walks into the weekend with a bit of disappointment at T51.
Bhullar’s 71 contained four birdies, but much of his good work was undone by a double bogey 7 at the ninth hole and another bogey at the par-4 17th hole, where he made five for the second straight day. There was nothing fancy with Shiv Kapur’s effort on Friday either. But a 70 to follow his 71 in the first round was enough to help him jump 16 spots on the leaderboard joining a nine strong group of men at T29.
Report by Anand Datla
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