JOIN USSaksansin powers to sole lead
On a day when the weather decided to take centre-stage at the Karnataka Golf Association, the affable Poom Saksansin stuck to his guns to open up a four-shot-lead at the half-way stage of the TAKE Solutions Masters here on Friday.
While the Thai took another step towards becoming the first foreigner to win an international event in the country since 2014 after carding four-under 67 for a total of 131, Bengaluru boy Khalin Joshi added a four-under 67 to to his overnight score of 68 to move into sole second.
Crowd favourite S Chikkarangappa endured a topsy turvy round (68) to eventually end the day at 136. The double Asian Development Tour winner had a fabulous chance to stake his claim at the top when he was eight-under with five holes to play. But as luck would have it, he had a terrible double bogey on the 14th and despite bringing it back with a birdie on the next hole, he painfully bogeyed the 17th and ended the day tied-third with the seasoned Sujjan Singh, Viraj Madappa, Indonesian Rory Hie and Rahil Gangjee, who made a fantastic comeback with five-under on the day.
Among the early starters on the day, Khalin had an ordinary start on the front nine with two pars and two bogeys. But the 24-year-old was on fire on the back nine nailing birdies on four of his first five holes and kept his calm through the rest of the round, with the wind playing havoc, to be the clubhouse leader.
The afternoon belonged to Saksansin who braved the weather to widen the gap at the top.
The 24-year-old, who has dropped just one shot in the opening two rounds, played like a man with a plan and didn't try anything extravagant in the first nine holes and made just the one birdie.
He picked up the pace on the back nine and despite a bogey on the 17th, stayed a cut above the rest, registering four birdies.
Of his first dropped shot in the tournament, Saksansin said there was a miscommunication between the caddie and himself.
“He asked me to hit straight but I misread the line and ended up hitting it right inside and missed the cup. It was my fault,” he said defending his caddie.
Saksansin could have been heading into the clubhouse with a larger lead but missed it by a hair's breadth on the final hole eventually ending up with a birdie of what could have been an eagle.
Bringing his pitching wedge to use from 130 yards out, Saksansin hit it sweetly but fell agonisingly short as the ball came to a standstill all of six inches from the pin.
Despite the cut being at three-over 145, a host of prominent names failed to progress. Jeev Milkha Singh (152), Mithun Perera (153), Rashid Khan (148) and Malaysian Gavin Green (148) joined the dubious list.
Results (After 36 holes, Indian unless specified): 131: Poom Saksansin (Tha) (64, 67); 135: Khalin Joshi (68, 67); 136: Sujjan Singh (67, 69), Viraj Madappa (66, 70), Rory Hie (Ina) (69,67), Rahil Gangjee (70,66), S Chikkarangappa (68, 68).