October 05, 2016: Noida’s Vikrant Chopra followed up his first round even-par-72 with a scorching eight-under-64 in round two of the Rs. 50 lakh PGTI Masters 2016 to take the second round clubhouse lead at the Classic Golf & Country Club in Mewat, Haryana.
Chopra’s tournament tally stood at eight-under-136 on the second day. He was one ahead of Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh (67-70), who was second in the clubhouse at seven-under-137.
Gurgaon-based professionals Shivendra Singh Sisodia and Ankur Chadha were tied third in the clubhouse along with Chandigarh’s Ranjit Singh at six-under-138.
Vikrant Chopra could not complete his opening round on Tuesday due to the two-hour rain delay. When play was suspended due to bad light on Tuesday, Vikrant was one-over through his back-nine. He thus came out on Wednesday morning and completed the front-nine of his first round where he made two birdies and a bogey for a 72.
Chopra, who was joint runner-up at PGTI’s season-opener in Kochi earlier this year, got into his stride early in the second round with birdies on the first three holes. The 36-year-old followed it up with another hat-trick of birdies on the seventh, eighth and ninth thanks to some brilliant hitting.
Vikrant added two more birdies to his card on the 15th and 18th, the latter from a range of 15 feet, to close round two with a blistering bogey-free 64.
Chopra, who played 27 holes on Wednesday, said, “I really got my ball-striking going today. I landed the ball within 10 feet on five occasions. I also had a chip-in on the second.
“I really had a good run beginning from the last two holes of round one. I birdied those two holes and then made three more birdies at the start of round two. The five consecutive birdies set up the second round nicely for me. In fact, I was eight-under through 11 holes when I made the turn in round two.
Vikrant, who is yet to win his maiden title, added, “I think I’ve tried too hard to win in the past but now I feel I’m more relaxed on the course.”
The rain delay on Tuesday meant that the second round could not be completed on Wednesday. Forty-five golfers out of a total of 124 could not complete round two on Wednesday. These 45 golfers will resume play at 0730 hrs on Thursday (October 6). The cut will be applied at the end of round two on Thursday. The third round will only commence after 0930 hrs on Thursday.
Round 2 leading scores:
136: Vikrant Chopra
137: Sujjan Singh
138: Shivendra Singh Sisodia, Ankur Chadha, Ranjit Singh
