June 6: Ajeetesh Sandhu seeking his first international Top-10 since October, 2018, put himself in a perfect position to do as he shot 2-under 70 after his first round 72 at the Porsche European Open in Hamburg, Germany.
Sandhu is now 2-under through 36 holes in a tournament that has been reduced to 54 holes with a Monday finish. Sandhu was placed Tied-9th with a good many number of players yet to finish their second round at the Green Eagle Golf Course.
Sandhu, who was a reserve for the week and got into the draw late, is three shots behind co-leaders Maverick Antcliff (71-68) and Matthew Southgate (70-69), who are 5-under.
The tournament has not thrown up too many low scores with 4-under 68 being the best so far, so it could be a tight battle in the final round.
The first leader Belgian Thomas Detry (68-73) slipped in the second round and is two off the leaders.
The other Indian in the field Shubhankar Sharma struggled to 6-over 78 and his second round 75 did not help.
Sandhu started with a birdie on first and added further gains on fifth, ninth and 18th. His dropped shots came on sixth and 17th.
Sandhu’s last Top-10s, both in 2019, were both runner-up finishes – Tied-2nd in Mercuries Masters in Taiwan and sole second ion Bangabandhu Cup in Bangladesh on Asian Tour. Since then he has won a title at Jeev Invitational on the domestic Tour.
In the first round, Sandhu started with a bogey on 10th, which he made up with a birdie on 11th. A string of seven pars was followed by a birdie on first. Then three bogeys in a span of four holes between third and seventh set him back . However, a birdie-birdie finish saw him finish at even par.
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