Dharma, Anand Raj surge to joint halfway lead

While Bengaluru’s M. Dharma and Patna’s Aman Raj moved into the joint halfway lead, the second round of the seasonopening Golconda Masters Golf Championship 2019 Powered By Telangana Tourism was highlighted by Noida golfer Gaurav Pratap Singh’s phenomenal 10- under- 61 that shattered the course record at the majestic Hyderabad Golf Club ( HGC) and lifted him to tied fourth. M Dharma and Aman Raj, who were both placed overnight tied second, shot rounds of sevenunder64 for the second day in succession at the Rs. 40 lakh event to surge into the joint lead at 14under- 128. Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa, a twotime international winner, too fired a 64 on Thursday to occupy third place at 13- under- 129.

However, Gaurav Pratap Singh hogged the limelight with his spectacular and error- fr ee 61 that catapulted him 36 places to tied fourth at 11- under131.

The brawny 34- year- old, a former winner on the PGTI, entered the scoring area twirling his newlygrown handlebar moustache with pride as he went one better than the previous course record of 62 first set by Ajeetesh Sandhu in 2016 and then equaled by Amardip Malik on Wednesday this week during round one.

Rookie Priyanshu Singh of Gurugram, the 2019 PGTI Qualifying School champion and Delhi’s Rashid Khan also produced second round scores of 64 to share fourth place with Gaurav.

Noida’s Amardip Malik, the first round leader by two shots thanks to his superlative 62, plummeted to tied 13th on day two after an ordinary 73 that moved his total to sevenunder135. Khalin Joshi came up with a 65 to be placed seventh.