Veer Ahlawat of India during Round 2 at The DGC Open
26-year-old Veer Ahlawat (-9) shot an error-free 5-under 67 to take a two-shot lead over the field at The DGC Open. The Gurgaon based golfer has been a picture of consistency in recent times with notable finishes of T-5th at SMBC Singapore Open and T-8th at Blue Canyon Championship in Thailand.
Ahlawat, when asked about his round, added, “My swing is feeling pretty good so I was confident that if I keep hitting it in the fairway, I’m going to hit good second shots,” the event leader said.
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“That was my plan for today. Just keep it in play – you don’t have to get long off the tee, just keep it in play. I started pretty good on the back nine and kept sticking it really close and made five birdies. On the front nine, I missed a chip-putt on the first for birdie and after that, I did hit it pretty close. I did save a few par putts like on the seventh where I holed a six-footer and then on the last hole I made a 15-footer for par.”
“The wind was much less today morning than yesterday afternoon. In the back nine, it did start blowing a little bit, but it wasn’t that much.”
Ajeetesh Sandhu, an Asian Tour winner shot flawless 4-under 68, taking his total to seven-under 137, two strokes behind the leader, Ahlawat. Sandhu, who was tied-5th yesterday, jumped three spots up for a solo-second place on the leaderboard and thought that it could have been better.
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“I’m happy but I think there were a lot of missed opportunities again, but that’s OK. It was tough with the wind. I think you really have to be patient, but the greens are excellent. If you miss a putt, you can’t really complain about the surface, it’s your fault. The course is fantastic.”
Gaganjeet Bhullar played his best-ever round at the DGC with a 6-under 66 that included five birdies in a row from 13th to 18th after starting on the 10th.
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“I actually started really well. On 11, I got to the green in three and made a bogey. Other than that I bounced back with five back to back birdies. I was just in a good frame of mind from yesterday’s finish. And I thought that I’ve been playing well. Yesterday was a day when I played well, but I didn’t score that well. So today I think the number came”, said Bhullar.
“I think this is my best round at the DGC as a pro. I’ve shot 6-under as a junior, as an amateur, but I’ve never shot 6-under as a pro. So, I think overall I played really well”, he added.
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Overnight joint leader Shankar Das was down in shared 12th place on 3-under 141 (67-74) after a difficult second day. Co-leader Australian Travis Smyth struggled in the tougher afternoon conditions as he slipped into a tie for seventh place on 4-under 140 (67-73).
Making the cut, which came at 5-over par 149 were Indian golf legend Jeev Milkha Singh, former Indian Open winners S.S.P. Chawrasia (2016, 2017) and Siddikur Rahman (2013) of Bangladesh and South Africa’s Ian Snyman in the 138-strong field.
The newly renovated golf course has been playing tough, leading to a higher cut, compare to 2-over 146 in 2018, when the last Asian Tour event was played here.
Kartik Sharma of Gurgaon shot 5-under 67 after a dismal 82 in the opening round to make the cut on number at 5-over 149, a 15-stroke overnight improvement. Sharma’s round included an eagle on the par-5 14th using a driver, 7-iron and a rolled putt of 10ft.
21-year-old Sunhit Bishnoi shot rounds of 77-73 (+5) to make the cut in his Asian Tour debut after qualifying through the PGTI’s Q-School last month in Ahmedabad.
The DGC Open presented by Mastercard is the fourth event on this year’s Asian Tour schedule and the first Asian Tour event played in India since the 2019 Panasonic Open India.
Credits:-
Photo – Asian Tour