Faltering badly with his short game that completely ruined an otherwise good show, Chikkarangappa carded a disappointing three-over-75 on a day when none in the field could break par at the Karnataka Golf Association.
Ravi and Joshi, two of the three amateurs who managed to post the day’s best score of level-par 72, trail Chikkarangappa by two shots at 147 while Abhijit Singh Chandha (73), Angad Cheema (73) and Kanishk Madan (75) are bunched together at 149 for a share of the fourth spot.
Unlike the swirling winds and tricky pin positions that played havoc on Tuesday, the conditions were far more pleasant. But with the quick greens living up to their ruthless reputation, much of the field struggled with their short game, more often than not misjudging the pace.
Chikkarangappa, who drove well for the better part of the day except for the 18th, started off in promising fashion. Just like he did on Tuesday, he parred the opening four holes before picking up a shot on the par-5 fifth. After getting onto the green with his third shot, he neatly sunk the four-footer for birdie before courting disaster in the next two holes.
On the par-4 sixth, he double-bogeyed from four feet with the par and bogey shots lipping out while on the par-4 seventh he bogeyed from four feet -- again a lip-out. The Eagleton Golf Resort teenager, however kept his composure, to pick up a shot on the 10th only lose the advantage on the 13th. He sunk a nine-footer for birdie on the 15th but had to endure a miserable end to the day.
After getting stuck on the slope of the right water hazard with a wayward tee shot, Chikkarangappa chipped the ball back onto the fairway. Eager to hit the green around 150 yards away, he chipped it way over before getting onto the green -- four feet from cup -- with his par shot. Sadly, luck eluded him one more time as the bogey shot lipped out, and he angrily putted it on the sixth attempt.
Leading scores (after 36 holes): 145: S Chikkarangappa (70, 75); 147: Rahul Ravi (75, 72), Khalin Joshi (75, 72); 149: Abhijit Singh Chadha (76, 73), Angad Cheema (75, 74), Kanishk Madan (74, 75); 150: CG Somaiah (74, 76); 151: R Marimuthu (75, 76), Rahul Bajaj (75, 76); 152: S Semwal (76, 76), Syed Saqib A (75, 77), Simarjeet S (74, 78), Ashbeer Singh Saini (74, 78), Saurabh B (73, 79); 153: Manav Das (78, 75), Jaibir Singh (75, 78).
