Sandhu leads by two shots

Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (in pic) raised hopes of a maiden title after producing a hard-fought two-under 60 to take a twoshot lead in round two of the TATA Steel PGTI Feeder Tour 2019 in Karnal on Thursday.

The 22-year-old Yuvraj (5760), who has three top-20s to his credit in his rookie season on the PGTI’s main tour this year, emerged as the top contender going into the final round as his total read sevenunder-117.

Sandhu’s nearest challenger is Delhi’s Dhruv Sheoran (5663) who was placed second at five-under-119.

As a result of heavy rain one day prior to the event, the 14th and 15th holes at the Madhuban Meadows Golf Course, both par-4s, have been rendered unplayable for the whole tournament, thus all three rounds will feature 16 holes each with the par for the course being 62.

The cut went at five-over129. Thirty-six professionals and one amateur made the cut for the third and final round.

Round one leader Dhruv Sheoran slipped to second position on Thursday after shooting a one-over-63 that featured four birdies, two bogeys and a triple-bogey.

Lucknow’s Rishi Kumar returned a second straight two-under-60 to be placed third at four-under-120.

Feeder Tour Order of Merit leader Anil Bajrang Mane (60) of Mumbai was in tied eighth at one-under-123.

Karnal golfers, professional Mani Ram (62) ended the day in tied

12th at even-par-124 while Ritesh Kumar

(67), the lone amateur in the field, was tied 34th at five-over129.