Late rally helps Arshvant keep 3-shot lead in Boys 13-14; Divjot moves to top in U-8 in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, March 6: Arshvant Srivastava of India maintained his pole position in the USKG Malaysian Championships, as he added a 1-over 73 to his first round 69, to reach 2-under 142 for 36 holes in the Boys 13-14 Category.

Another young Indian star, Divjot Gupta (40-37) also moved into the lead in the Boys 8 and Under Category.

Arshvant, a multiple winner in USKG India events, was being chased by Korea’s Kang Geon (74-71), who had the best score of the second round. Arshvant, who was four ahead of the field after Day 1, is still three ahead of the rest.

Kang was 1-over for two rounds and trailed the Indian by three shots with one more round to go at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club.

Arshvant rallied late in the day after two early bogeys on the second and the fifth and then two more on the 10^th and 13^th. Arshvant’s first round five-shot lead over Kang had disappeared and the two were level.

The tide turned in the next three holes, as Kang bogeyed 14^th and parred the rest, while Arshvant picked back-to-back birdies on 15^th and 16^th to close the day three ahead. Arshvant parred the last two holes.

Malaysia’s Maverick Chua (76-73) and Woosung Sun of Korea (73-76) were lying tied third as another Indian golfer Sohang Har Kantor (79-79) was Tied-7^th and Ved Sai Machiraju (85-82) were T-15.

In Boys Under-8, as Divjot went to the top, the first-round leader, Clifton Michael Lumy of Indonesia (39-39) slipped to second. The second Indian Ruslaan Alam Khan (44-44) was still lying third.

Divjot had two birdies and three bogeys in his 1-over 37 as the Boys 8-under played 9-hole rounds. Lumy shot 3-over 39 and from being one ahead of Divjot, he fell one behind with one more day to go.

Jot Sarup Gupta (77-90) who was second slipped to third, as overnight Aaron Zhang of China (73-77) stayed in the lead in Boys 10 and under.

In the Girls 13-14 category Kriti Parekh (83-84) also slipped to third and the leader was still Wang Enxi (76-77).

Over 100 junior golfers from 16 countries, including 37 players from Malaysia, are competing in the three-day tournament. There are seven players from India.

The US Kids Malaysian Championships is the first regional National Championships under the US Kids umbrella in Asia this year. It will be followed by more such events in Thailand, Singapore and India.