The ‘average’ round was a four-under-par 68 with four birdies on the back nine, but it got him into what he jocularly described ‘familiar’ pole position, at least in India. Randhawa has won five of his eight international titles in and around Delhi.
At nine-under-par 135 after two rounds, Randhawa was tied with Tony Carolan of Australia, who at 38, is still looking for his maiden win on the Asian Tour.
Randhawa and Carolan were one stroke clear of veteran Wang Ter-chang of Chinese Taipei, who shot a 67 with six birdies and a bogey.
One shot further down at seven-under-137 was a group of four players — Scott Hend, Ross Bain, Dinesh Chand and Dinesh Kumar. Seven players — India's Gaganjeet Bhullar (68), Filipino Angelo Que (70), Malaysian Danny Chia (70), Thai Panuwat Muenlek (67), Korean Noh Seung-yul (70), Australian Adam Groom (71) and Kiwi Mark Brown (69) -- were shot further back in tied eighth spot.
The cut came at one-over-par 145 and 74 players made the weekend rounds. Prominent among those missing were Indian Masters winner SSP Chowrasia (72, 74), Thai Thammannoon Srirot (74, 72), Harmeet Kahlon (73, 73), Rahil Gangjee (73, 74), Amandeep Johl (72, 78) and Gaurav Ghei (72, 79).
Randhawa admittedly took some time to warm-up. “It was a cold start in the morning. There was frost in the morning and I got warmed really on the back nine,” he said. “It was a mix of few bad shots and good shots, but I got away with the bad shots.”
Leading scores (after 36 holes): 135: Jyoti Randhawa (67, 68), Tony Carolan (66, 69); 136: Wang Ter-chang (69, 67); 137: Scott Hend (67, 70), Dinesh Chand (67, 70), Dinesh Kumar (68, 69), Ross Bain (66, 71).