SINGAPORE, Aug 12: India’s Veer Ahlawat continued his love affair with Singapore as he shot a superb 7-under 65 to jump to third place at the inaugural USD 1.5 million International Series Singapore here on Friday.
Ahlawat, 26, finished a career-best T-5 at the Singapore Open in January, a week after missing the cut at the Singapore International at Tampines, Tanah Merah, which is hosting the current event.
Ahlawat, finding his feet at Tampines this time, moved in line for another fine finish as his second round 65 carried him to 10-under and the third place at the midway stage.
Ahlawat is four shots behind the leader, Malaysia’s Gavin Green, who posted a second straight 65 to get to 14-under as he continued his comeback.
Among other Indians, Shubhankar Sharma (70-69) was T-20 while Rashid Khan (72-69) was T-36.
Last week’s winner Gaganjeet Bhullar (73-69) made up for the first round and ensured a busy weekend at T-46, where he had for company three other Indians in veteran Jyoti Randhawa (73-69), Ajeetesh Sandhu (70-72) and SSP Chawrasia (70-72).
Aman Raj, staring at an early exit after three bogeys from 14th to 16th, made a spectacular recovery with a hole-in-one on Par-3 16th and added a birdie on 17th and par on 18th to make the cut on the line at 1-under. His rounds have been 72-71.
Eight of the 16 Indians who started the week missed the cut.
The Indians who missed the cut included S Chikkarangappa (74-70), Shiv Kapur (73-73), amateur Yash Majumdar (75-71), Honey Baisoya (73-75), Rahil Gangjee (76-74), Viraj Madappa (79-73) and Jeev Milkha Singh (78-78).
Chiragh Kumar withdrew after the first round.
Ahlawat, who has had two Top-6 finishes on the Asian Tour this season — at the Singapore Open and the DGC Open presented by MasterCard –, was in excellent form.
Starting with three pars from the 10th, he birdied 13th, 14th and 18th to turn in 3-under. He added birdies on first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth. His sole bogey of the day came on the par-3 sixth.
Malaysian ace Gavin Green continued his comeback trail after spectacularly posting his second successive bogey-free 7-under-par 65 to take the lead on 14 under.
Green, the 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, is trailed by one of Asia’s finest young talents, Phachara Khongwatmai from Thailand, who shot a 66 after a first round 67. He is 11-under, while Ahlawat and Korean Yoseop Seo (69-65) are a stroke further behind after they both returned 65s. Seo’s round was highlighted by six birdies on the trot from the seventh.
Overnight leader Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe slipped back after carding a 73 and is seven under in a tie for eighth. (PTI)
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