Kapur moves into tied third

Shiv Kapur hit a purple patch on the back nine with four birdies in a span of five holes, as he carded a four-under 66 and moved to tied third at the midway stage of the USD 1.3 million Hong Kong Open here on Friday.

Kapur is now five-under 135 and two shots behind leader Jbe Kruger of South Africa. Kapur may well have been just one behind Kruger, but for a bogey on 18th.

At tied 14th and three-under 137 was SSP Chowrasia (68, 69) as the next best Indian after Kapur, while Anirban Lahiri (68, 70) was tied 27th.

Sujjan Singh (66, 73), Himmat Rai (72, 67) and Jyoti Randhawa (72, 67) were tied 41st at one-under 139. As many as 75 players made the cut.

At the top, Kruger made it a fitting tribute to the passing of Nelson Mandela by storming ahead to take the second round lead with a four-under-par 66.

Mane triumphs

Udayan Mane completed a wire-to-wire victory when he signed off with a final round of three-under 68 to clinch the Tata Steel Jharkhand Amateur Golf Championhsip in Jamshedpur on Friday.

The stocky Bangalorean finished with a tournament total of 21-under 263.

Indians shine

On a day when the course played tough, Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai shot two-under par 70 to lead the individual category in the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championship at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club on Friday.

The 15-year-old was level-par 144 after 36 holes of play. Hosts’ Viraj Madappa added another 73 to his overnight 73 to be in second place, just two shots behind the leader with team-mate Manu Gandas a further two shots behind Viraj.