India’s Shiv Kapur carded a six-under 66 to lie tied-eighth at the BNI Indonesian Masters on Friday. Kapur now totals seven-under 137, seven shots behind the leaders. Compatriot Shubhankar Sharma, however, had a lacklustre round, missing the cut.
Thailand’s Poom Saksansin, the winner here in 2016, had six birdies on the front nine, and three more in the last four holes to get to 14-under. He is three shots clear of compatriots Suradit Yongcharoenchai (66) and Jakraphan Premsirigorn (65).
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Justin Rose (68-68), who can become the World No. 1 this week if he finishes inside Top-16, is tied-fifth, six behind the leader. Fellow heavyweight Henrik Stenson (67-68), the 2016 Open winner, took the fourth position. Stenson’s hopes of closing the gap with Poom were dashed when he dropped two shots in his last four holes. He heads into the weekend rounds trailing Poom by five strokes.
‘Disappointing’
Shubhankar reflected on a “disappointing” outing. He registered a birdie on his final hole of the season, but it was too little, too late. “That was disappointing to miss the weekend, but the year has been great,” said the 22-year-old. “I am getting ready for 2019 and it will be another busy year,” he said. Owing to a fruitful season, he will be officially crowned Asia No. 1 on Sunday at the Tour dinner.
Kapur, commenting on his own performance, admitted his finish, after a positive start, wasn’t the most ideal. He said, “It is not often that you shoot six under and still find yourself going further back, as Poom (Saksansin) who was playing with me seemed to holing from all over the places. I putted well through the first 10 holes, which was way better than first day, but I lost the momentum on the back nine.”
The second round was suspended due to fading light at 5.50pm, leaving 20 players having to return at 6.20am to complete their rounds on Saturday morning. The cut line was currently set at even par.
Heavy winds
Anirban Lahiri, the 2016 winner here, missed a whole bunch of makeable putts during his card of 72. He was two-under through nine, and stayed there till the 13th. He dropped shots on 14th and 15th to fall back, and ended with 72. He finished the round in the tied-21st position.
Lahiri was disappointed at missing many putts. “I didn’t make anything today. Lip outs, sliding past and so on. The wind was more than 30 kilometres per hour. That made at least a difference of three to four shots between playing in morning and afternoon.”
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S. S. P. Chawrasia was another player who dropped many shots in the closing stretch. He bogeyed three times between 14th and 17th and finished at 70; he was positioned tied-26th.
Among other Indians, Viraj Madappa (73-69) was tied-34th, Rahil Gangjee (71-71) was tied-41st and M. Dharma tied-54th. With one hole to finish when the hooter went off due to fading light, Khalin Joshi and S. Chikkarangappa (71-73) were tied-54th. Arjun Atwal (71-74) and Aman Raj (72-73) were one-over and will need to wait for the second round to finish on Saturday morning. Currently tied-67th, they can make it through to the final two rounds with a bit of luck.
Jeev Milkha Singh (71-75), Udayan Mane (four-over for the tournament with four to play), Shubhankar (76-72), Ajeetesh Sandhu (73-76) and Honey Baisoya (73-81) missed the cut.
Gaganjeet Bhullar had pulled out even before the first round due to injury.
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