Chawrasia shoots 68 to rise to 5th at Austrian Open

Along with Chawrasia, other Indian golfers- Shubhankar Sharma and Ajeetesh Sandhu-also had a profitable day in the competition.

Chawrasia was at 4-under through 36 holes and lying T-5th as Alejandro Canizares (70) at 7-under was leading by one over John Catlin (70) and Martin Kaymer (70)- GETTY IMAGES

Indian golfer SSP Chawrasia returned a superb 4-under 68 that pushed him into the top-5 after the second round of the Austrian Open on Friday.

It was a good day for the Indians, as Shubhankar Sharma bounced back from a first round of 75. He was 5-under through 11 before he dropped a bogey on 15 and finished at 4-under 68 and was lying T-18.

Ajeetesh Sandhu made an even bigger comeback after 77 in the first round. He was 2-under for the day and he was on the bubble at 3-over with three holes to play.

Chawrasia was at 4-under through 36 holes and lying T-5th as Alejandro Canizares (70) at 7-under was leading by one over John Catlin (70) and Martin Kaymer (70) who were both at 6-under.

Justin Walters (68) is fourth at 5-under, while Chawrasia, Max Kieffer (68), Jacques Kruyswijk (72) and Richard Mansell (71) at T-5.

Chawrasia, who has missed the cut in his last six starts on the European Tour, was happy to find himself near the top after a struggling run late last year when golf resumed following the shut down due to the pandemic.

"No, I did not think about those missed cuts when I started today. I was thinking about handling the cold weather. On the first day it was 3 degrees and very cold when I began.

"Today it was about 6 degrees and we were joking that we were wearing all the clothes we had brought,” said Chawrasia with a laugh.