Gurgaon, Mar 10:
Defending champion SSP Chawrasia today turned in a flawless five-under 67 during the unfinished second round to grab a one-stroke lead on a tricky DLF golf course on a weather-hit day at the Indian Open here.
Chawrasia followed the simple strategy of “hit straight and putt well” on a day when only 12 golfers could aggregate a sub-par score, even as four-over was decided as the cut with none of the golfers who started their second round in the afternoon session could complete after lightening, rain and hail storm stopped play for around two-and-a-half hours here.
They will complete their round tomorrow.
Resuming his opening round after being one-under at 15th hole yesterday, Chawrasia dropped a bogey at the 18th hole to remain even-par 72.
Chawrasia, who is trying to become only the second Indian to defend his title after Randhawa, tamed the extremely challenging layout here by playing conservative golf and brought home five birdies to reach atop the leaderboard.
Two-time winner Jyoti Randhawa, who scored 75 yesterday, was the next best Indian after he carded two-under 70 today which included three back-to-back birdies in the front nine and a birdie and two bogeys in back nine.
A 10th tee starter, Chawrasia picked up a six-footer birdie at the 11th hole, before firing a 40-foot birdie at the 14th hole. He picked up another stroke in the next and parred the next three holes to take the turn at three-under.(PTI)
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