Veer Ahlawat rises to Tied-fifth in Singapore as Kapur, Madappa are T-16

Veer Ahlawat. Pic: Asian Tour

Sentosa, Singapore, January 21: Veer Ahlawat, who logged a Top-10 when the Asian Tour re-started after a 20-month gap in December, showed that he is maturing into a fine player as he registered cards of 68-70 in the first two rounds of the SMBC Singapore Open. Veer, who was 1-under through 12 holes of the first round when play was called off early on Thursday, went through 24 holes on Friday to rise into Top-5 at the halfway stage.

Shiv Kapur (71-69) and Viraj Madappa (71-69) were T-16, while S Chikkarangappa (73-71) was T-47 and Rashid Khan (72-73) was T-63. The cut was expected to fall 3-over and those facing a possible missed cut included Jyoti Randhawa, Karandeep Kochhar, Khalin Joshi, Aman Raj, SSP Chawrasia and Jeev Milkha Singh. Abhijit Chadha withdrew.

After being 1-under through 12, Veer had three birdies on fifth, seventh and eighth and was 4-under at that stage. A bogey on the ninth, his last saw him finish at 68. In the second round Veer added a card of 1-under 70 with five birdies against four  bogeys to be 4-under through 36 holes.

American Sihwan Kim fired a fine five-under-par 66 in the second round of the SMBC Singapore Open today to take the clubhouse lead at 9-under at Sentosa Golf Club.

The American opened up a three-shot lead over Korean teenage star Joohyung Kim – who came in with his second 68 to put himself in a strong position to wrap up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title at the weekend.

Korean Dongkyu Jang and Sadom Kaewkanjana from Thailand are a stroke further back following rounds of 69 and 70 respectively.

The US$1.25 million event is the final event of the year on Asian Tour. Three players were unable to finish as darkness fell.

Sihwan has good pedigree – he won the US Junior Championship in 2005, joining a host of big names players to have claimed the title including compatriots Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth – and showed that on the Serapong Course today.

Joohyung Kim, winner of last week’s The Singapore International, was again in impressive form making five birdies and two bogeys.

England’s Paul Casey recovered from his opening round 76 by carding a 68 to finish on two over, which will most likely be good enough to make the cut, currently three over. An eagle and a birdie in his closing six holes saw the Ryder Cup star, joint second here in 2019, narrowly make it through to the weekend.

Indian scores after Day 2 of the Singapore Open at Sentosa Golf Club (Par 71)

T-5: Veer Ahlawat 68-70 (138)

T-16: Shiv Kapur (71-69) 140, Viraj Madappa (71-69) 140

T-47: Chikkarangappa (73-71) 144

T-63: Rashid Khan (72-73) 145

T-75: Jyoti Randhawa (72-74) 146; Karandeep Kochhar (73-73); Khalin Joshi (74-72) 146

T-94: Aman Raj Even (74-74) 148; SSP Chawrasia (75-73) 148

T-126: Jeev Milkha Singh (81-76)

WD: Abhijit Chadha

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