Chouhan, Kochhar in halfway lead
Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow and Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar shared the halfway lead at sevenunder137 at the inaugural Paramount GolfForeste DelhiNCR Open at the Noida Golf Course on Wednesday.
While Chouhan shot a threeunder69 in round two to move up two places from his overnight tied third, Kochhar came up with an even- par- 72 to gain one spot from his overnight second on a windy day on the course.
Kolkata’s Shankar Das ( 70) was third at six- under- 138 while Honey Baisoya ( 69) of Delhi was a further shot back in fourth place.
The cut was declared at threeover147 with 59 professionals and one amateur making the grade.
Round one leader Naman Dawar of Delhi slipped to tied 10th at two- under- 142 after a round of 78.
Amateur Simarjeet Singh ( 72), also T10, was the highest- placed among the Noida- based golfers. He was also the only amateur to make the cut.
Delhi’s Manav Jaini had the day’s best round of four- under68, closing in tied 34th place at two- over- 146.
Chouhan ( 68- 69) didn’t strike the ball as well as he did in
Kolkata’s Shankar Das ( 70) was third at sixunder138 while Honey Baisoya ( 69) of Delhi was a further shot back in fourth
round one but enjoyed a good day with the putter. His four birdies came as a result of conversions from 10 to 12 feet.
Chouhan said, “I’ve been playing well since the Pune event last week. I recently made some changes to my swing and those weren’t working out so I went back to my old swing. That seems to have made the difference to my game. Scoring well in the tough conditions today added to my confidence.
“I feel I need to improve more on my hitting if I have to stay up there on the leaderboard this week.”