Chawrasia improves 19 places to tied 29 in World Golf Championships

India's SSP Chawrasia, who opened the tournament with an even par 72, finished day two with two-under for 36 holes for a tied 29th spot, an improvement of 19 places from the first round.

SSP Chawrasia improved from where he left off in the first round to finish tied at the 29th spot at the end of the second round of the World Golf Championships.

India’s SSP Chawrasia landed an eagle-2 enroute to a two-under 70, to shoot up 19 places to a tied 29th spot at the Sheshan Interantional Golf Club in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, on Friday.

Chawrasia, who opened the tournament with an even par 72 is now two-under for 36 holes for a tied 29th spot, an improvement of 19 places from the first round. Playing with Mathew Southgate and Brandon Stone, he teed off from the 10th and bogeyed the 15th, but the eagle on 16th put him under par.

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A bogey on 18th saw him turn in even par. Birdies on second and third saw him get to two-under, which is where he finished.

“I found more fairways and greens today, but I need to get a few more putts to drop. Holing that second shot was a nice bonus. There are two more days to go and I hope to move up from here,” Chawrasia said.

Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson, who has already won two WGC titles this year, put himself in line for a historic third, as he stormed up the leaderboard with a sensational nine-under- par 63 to take the second round lead.

Johnson delivered a putting masterclass when he made a total of 26 putts with a new putter. He birdied holes two and eight for an outward 34, but stamped his authority with an inward 29 that was highlighted by seven birdies and two pars for a two-day total of 13-under-par 131.

Overnight leader Brooks Koepka slipped to second place following a 68 while Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat was the highest placed Asian in tied third spot, along with Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose of England on a matching total of 135.

Malaysia’s Gavin Green, who started the day tied for second with Kiradech, struggled to find the fairways and hopes to give a better account of himself when the weekend rounds commence.

Green is eight shots back of Johnson, bunched in tied 12th place which also includes Korean-American David Lipsky and Australia’s Scott Hend, ranked second and third respectively on the merit list.