Hyderabad: Ajeetesh Sandhu maintained his strong start as he hit 12-under-130 to earn the bragging rights over Shubhankar Sharma — who hit 10-under-132 — at the end of Day Two of the Golconda Masters being played at the Hyderabad Golf Course in the city on Friday.
While Chandigarh-lad Ajeetesh, who had fired a phenomenal opening round of nine-under-62 — a course record — kept his two-stroke lead for the second day running as he battled to a three-under-68, Gurgaon’s Shubhankar submitted a second successive five-under-66 to be hot on the leader’s heels.
Meanwhile, the cut fell at one-over-143. Fifty-two professionals made the cut. Both the Hyderabad-based professionals, Sanjay Kumar Singh and H Sunil Kumar, missed the cut. All six amateurs from Hyderabad also missed the cut.
Ajeetesh (62-68) had a forgettable start on Day Two as he dropped three strokes on the first two holes. Having misjudged the wind he found the water on the first for a double-bogey and then suffered a lapse in concentration on the second green where he let a birdie opportunity slip away and instead landed up with a bogey.
The 27-year-old Sandhu then staged a valiant comeback with a magical run of six straight birdies from the sixth to the 11th. He pocketed strokes on the three par-5s on this stretch and also made tap-ins on a couple of par-3s thanks to some top-class tee shots.
The former winner on the Professional Golf Tour of India added another birdie to his card on the 14th before missing one of his shortest putts of the day for a bogey on the 18th.
Shubhankar (66-66) kept himself in contention for a second straight title as he climbed from overnight tied fourth to second place after punctuating his round with six birdies and a bogey.
