Solid Anirudh storms into lead

Anirudh K, playing some solid golf, stormed into the lead at the halfway stage of the Rotary Bangalore-IGU Karnataka State Amateur Championship here on Wednesday.

The Telangana golfer blasted a fine five-under 67 to total 137 and take a slender one-shot lead at the Eagleton Golf Resort. Bengal’s Kartik Sharma shot 70 to lie second while overnight leader Harimohan Singh courted disaster, carding a 73 to slip to third at 139.

In the ladies battle that kicked off on Wednesday, Gurjot Badwal and Sanjana A carded 80 each to share the lead. However, Anika Varma, playing in Category B, held the overall lead with a fine 74.

Anirudh produced a near-flawless show on another day of low scoring. He birdied the second hole, then picked up two more shots on the fifth and sixth holes before turning in at four-under with a birdie on the eighth.

He started his inward journey on a sedate note, parring the first three holes before birdieing the 13th and 15th to go six-under. All set to end on that score, Anirudh endured a touch of disappointment at the very end, dropping a bogey on the concluding 18th.

Leading scores: Men (after 36 holes): 137: Anirudh K (70, 67); 138: Kartik Sharma (68, 70); 139: Harimohan Singh (66, 73); 140: Sunit Chowrasia (72, 68), Yashas Chandra (71, 69); 141: Praful Chand (75, 66), Varun Parikh (70, 71); 142: Pukhraj Singh Gill (73, 69), K Surya Kumar (69, 73).

Ladies (after 18 holes): 80: Gurjot Badwal, Sanjana A; 82: Geetika Ahuja.
Category A: 75: Sifat Sagoo; 76: Arshia Mahant; 78: Jahanvi Bakshi, Tanirika Singh, Ishvari Prasanna.

Category B: 74: Anika Varma; 75: Khushi Hooda; 78: Prakruthi Sastry.
Category C: 79: Monisha Chowdary; 82: Rashmi S, Kriti Chowhan, Rishika M.