Hyderabad, Feb 6: Khalin Joshi overcame some nagging neck pain to get off to a great start with a hat-trick of birdies and turned in a round of 67 after his first round 64 to take a two-shot lead at the halfway mark of the Vooty & Haldi Presents Golconda Masters Golf Championship 2020 Powered by Telangana Tourism. He is now 11-underr and two shots ahead of Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat (68) who may well have had a share of the lead but for a double bogey seven on par-5 17th.
Shamim Khan had a stunning five-birdie run from 13h to 17thbut then closed with a bogey on 18th. He had he day’s best of eight-under 63 that put him Tied-third alongside Shankar Das (69), Trishul Chinappa (70) and Angad Cheema (68) at the Hyderabad Golf Club (HGC).
The halfway cut fell at one-over-143 with 55 professionals making the cut.
Last year’s Order of Merit winner, Delhi’s Rashid Khan (69), Pune’s Udayan Mane (67) and Patna’s Aman Raj (71) were in tied seventh at seven-under-135.
Joshi (64-67), lying tied second overnight and one off the lead, got off to a flying start with birdies on the first three holes where he played his wedges to perfection. The 27-year-old former Asian Tour winner landed his lob wedge approach from 44 yards within an inch of the pin on the second hole.
Khalin then had a bumpy stretch as a three-putt and two erratic tee shots brought him three bogeys in exchange for two birdies between the fifth and the ninth. Joshi, a four-time winner on the PGTI, made his fourth three-putt of the tournament on the 10th where he made par after missing a two-footer for birdie.
However, Khalin salvaged the round and emerged leader with birdies on the 14th and 15th making a 17-footer on the latter.
Joshi said, “I had a terrific start and was in good ball-striking form. However, I feel I could’ve played better as I didn’t really capitalize on the start. The two bogeys on the par-3s were quite disappointing and so were the two three-putts. But I put together a solid back nine and made good of a lucky break on the 15th.
“I have always done well here at the HGC as I have three top-10s including a runner-up finish and two other top-20s in my five previous appearances at the Golconda Masters. I always put myself in contention here and am confident of doing so this year too.
“My neck pain is much better but it still hurts a little bit when I look up to line up my shot. Hopefully it’ll get even better and give me some relief over the next two days.”
Veer Ahlawat (65-68), who was tied fifth and two off the lead after round one, made a move up the leaderboard with an eventful round. Veer, another consistent performer at the HGC, was six-under over the first 10 holes having made a 30-feet eagle on the eighth along with five birdies at the cost of a bogey.
Ahlawat, who enjoyed a career-best fifth place finish on the PGTI Rankings last year, then made a couple of errors with his tee shots on the 14th and 17th that resulted in a bogey and a double-bogey respectively.
Veer said, “My first 10 holes and last eight holes were contrasting. I was playing extremely well till the 10th but then seemed to lose focus after the bogey on the 14th. It was downhill thereafter.
“My driving and putting were good but I didn’t finish the round well. The yardage on the 14th hole troubled me for the second day in succession. I had a bogey there in round one as well,” added Ahlawat, who earned his breakthrough win on the PGTI last season.
Shamim Khan had a total of 10 birdies against two bogeys.
Round one leader Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh shot a 75 and thus dropped to tied 20th at four-under-138.
Former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey, playing as a professional for the first time, missed the cut as he totalled 26-over-168.
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Kochhar leads with 63, Rashid three behind at 10th in Golconda Masters
