Bengaluru: A massive effort from a diminutive young lad lit up the second round of the Bengaluru Open Golf Championship here.
Honey Baisoya smashed a course record-equalling (in a professional event) eight-under 64 at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) on Thursday. With the sun playing hide-and-seek and a light breeze enveloping the course, 21-year-old Baisoya joined Meerut's Amardip Sinh Malik who had set the mark here during the 2010 edition of the Bilt Open.
Khalin Joshi holds the course record after he fired a sensational 10-under in the 2012 Southern India Amateur Championship.
With his herculean performance, Baisoya, who ended the day 13-under 131, opened up a three-shot lead over second-placed Udayan Mane (134).
Mane himself had a superb outing as he finished on seven-under for the day. Sujjan Singh, recovering from the flu, proved his grit once again to stay in sole third after carding two-under on the day for a total of eight-under 136.
But the spotlight was firmly on Honey and the Delhi golfer, paired with his idol Jyoti Randhawa (147) and Malik (144), hit the ground running from the word go.
Starting on the back nine, the youngster made a spritely start with a birdie on the 10th hole despite having to chip out of the bunker. With the initial momentum, he went from strength to strength and collected three more before he began the front nine.
It just got better for Baisoya as he kick-started his inward journey with an eagle on the first followed by birdies on the second, fifth and sixth. He dropped a shot on the 12th hole.
"This has to be one of the best rounds I have played. My putter has been serving me really well over the last couple of days so I'm feeling really confident," said Baisoya, who has won four titles in the last couple of years.
It was a similar round for Vijay Divecha-coached Mane as well with the 26-year-old making eight birdies but was unfortunate to card to a bogey on the 11th after duffing his bunker shot.
Teeing off in the morning session, Mane opened a two-shot lead over Sujjan at the end of the round and will be confident ahead of the two crucial days that lie ahead.
Overnight joint-leader S Chikkarangappa (six-under 138) endured a lacklustre outing after ending the round even-par 72. But there was a moment of magic from the local lad as he holed from 105 yards out on the 18th.
While Baisoya's round was the success story of the day, there were a couple of prominent names who were stuck at the wrong end of the leaderboard and missed the cut that was set at two-over 146.
Randhawa and Vijay Kumar (147) found themselves among the unfortunate lot to make an early exit.
Leading scores (after round two, Indian unless mentioned): 131: Honey Baisoya (67, 64); 134: Udayan Mane (69, 65); 136: Sujjan Singh (66, 70); 137: Harendra Gupta (68, 69), Abhijit Singh Chadha (68, 69), Himmat Singh Rai (66, 71), M Dharma (67, 70), Veer Ahlawat (67, 70); 138: Rahil Gangjee (70, 68), S Chikkarangappa (66,72), Shamim Khan (66, 72).