Local golfer Rawat shines on home turf
LUCKNOW: Local golfer Amardeep Rawat has been playing golf at the Palms Golf Club and Resort for a quite some time and is a better reader of the greens here.
Rawat’s knowledge of local conditions helped him hog limelight on Day Two of the PGTI Feeder Tour 2019 on Thursday as he produced an error-free sixunder-50 to emerge joint leader at a total score of 10-under-80 along with Abhinav Lohan of the DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurugram, who fired a five-under-51.
Sanjeev Kumar, another local favourite, shot a flawless fiveunder-51 in round two to be one off the lead in second place at nine-under-81. Former Indian Open champion Vijay Kumar of Lucknow was in tied 28th at even-par-90.
The cut went at even-par-90. Thirty-nine professionals made the cut for the third and final round.
As a result of heavy rain for the last one week, part of the course was rendered unplayable and as such the round was played over 15 holes with the par for the course being 56.
Lucknow’s Rawat (30-50), lying overnight tied third and two off the lead, made a slow start as he sank just one birdie, a 15-feet conversion on the fifth, over his first nine holes.
Rawat, who had a good 2018 Feeder Tour season with three top-10s including a runner-up finish, then got in the groove as far as his ball-striking was concerned as he kept landing it close to the pin and picked up five birdies on the last six holes. He had three tap-ins on the final stretch.
“My hitting really improved towards the end of the round today. I also made two long conversions. It was great to finish with birdies on the last four holes. That gives me a lot of confidence going into the final round,” said Rawat, who had a seventh place finish on the 2018 Feeder Tour Order of Merit.
“I’ve not had a good year so far as I’ve been struggling with my hitting. But the way I struck it today, I’m now hopeful of turning around my form,” he added.
Abhinav Lohan (29-51), lying second and one off the lead after round one, stormed to six-under over his first nine holes as he landed it within four feet on five occasions and also drained a 25-footer on the seventh.
Lohan, fresh from his tied 21st at the Asian Tour event at Classic and tied 11th at last week’s Jaipur Open, then came up with two bogeys and a birdie over his last six holes to end up with a five-under for the second day in succession.
“I started really well today and hit some accurate iron shots to set up those early birdies. The three-putt on the closing 18th was the only disappointment,” said Abhinav, adding, “I feel I’m well placed going into the last round and just need to carry on playing in the same manner.”
Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar, who was overnight tied third, kept himself in the hunt with a bogey-free five-under-51 to end round two in third position at nine-under-81.
Delhi’s Wasim Khan occupied fourth place at seven-under-83 while Lucknow’s Sanjay Kumar, round one leader Kashif Alam of Noida and Kolkata’s Pintu Haldar were all in tied fifth at six-under-84.