Young Fernandes continues to sparkle

The United States-based Fernandes, who grabbed the spotlight on Monday with a wonderful show, showed that his first day’s effort was no flash in the pan, carding a superb one-under 71 at the Eagleton Golf Resort.

With a total of 143, the 14-year-old holds a three-stroke lead (Category A&B) over S Chikkarangappa, who seemed to be finding the rhythm following a disappointing first round. Chikkarangappa shot 71 while Karnataka’s Golf Association’s Chinnappa hit 72 to move up to third place at 147.

Fernandes made a shaky start to the day, dropping a shot on the opening hole before bogeying the par-4 seventh. However, he was quick to put the disappointment behind, nailing his first birdie on the eighth. After a sedate start to the backward journey, the Florida-based youngster bogeyed the 12th to go two-over.

But, thereafter Fernandes showcased brilliant stuff, sinking back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th before wrapping up the day with a birdie on the 18th. Leading scores (after 36 holes): Boys: Category A&B: 143: Rigel Fernandes (72, 71); 146: S Chikkarangappa (75, 71); 147: Trishul Chinnappa (75, 72); 148: Viraj Madappa (72, 76); 149: Ainesh Ahluwalia (74, 75); 151: Abhishek Kuhar (79, 72), Samrat Basu (79, 72); 152: Yashash Chandra (78, 74), Saqib Ahmed (74, 78).

Category B: 143: Rigel Fernandes (72, 71); 148: Viraj Madappa (76, 72); 154: Shubhankar Sharma (76, 78); 155: Manu Gandas (79, 76), Shivnaren Srinivas (77, 78), Jairaj Singh Sandhu (77, 78), Kelly Rao (75, 80).

Category C: 146: Piyush Sangwan (72, 74); 147: Prakhar Asawa (73, 74); 156: Karandeep S Kochar (76, 80); 162: Tanvir Kahlon (81, 81); 164: Arjun Prasad (81, 83).
Category D (after 18 holes): 78: Kshitij Naveed Kaul; 84: Digraj Singh Gill; 85: Aadil Bedi.
Girls (after 18 holes): Category A&B: 74: Gurbani Singh; 76: Mehar Atwal, Vrishali Sinha; 79: Aditi Ashok.

Category C: 78: Seher Atwal; 80: Ridhima Dilawari; 81: Ankita Kedlaya.