Samarth, Aman survive wind and cut

Dwivedi (67-73) was Tied-38th and Aman (70-72) was Tied-48th as the cut fell at three-over 143, leaving Viraj Madappa (70-74), Karandeep Kochar (69-75) and Priyanshu Singh (70-74) stranded by one shot at Tied-63rd. Only Top-60 and ties moved ahead. Veer Ahlawat (75-79) the other Indian further down in Tied-88th place.

It was a very windy morning and then after settling for a while in <g data-gr-id="58">afternoon</g>, the wind returned again in late afternoon and the weather is set to deteriorate over the weekend and a typhoon is expected on Sunday.

China’s Cheng Jin (62-68) stayed the leader and he was at 10-under. He was two clear of Japan’s Takashi <g data-gr-id="49">Ogiso</g> 67-65) and three players China’s <g data-gr-id="50">Zihan</g> She (67-66), Australian Cameron Davis (69-64) and another Australian Ryan <g data-gr-id="51">Ruffels</g> (69-64), the <g data-gr-id="52">top ranked</g> player in the field shared the third place at seven-under 133.

Dwivedi said, “The conditions were very windy in the morning. At <g data-gr-id="55">times</g> we were hitting two clubs higher and still falling short. Most scores were hit by the conditions in the morning. It became slightly better in the afternoon and the wind picked up again in late afternoon.”

Dwivedi, who finished with a 67 on <g data-gr-id="47">first</g> day, went three over in an eventful round that saw four birdies, five bogeys and one double.

Aman Raj had a fruitful stretch between seventh and 11th, with three birdies, but bogeys on first and sixth and then a double on 12th and a final bogey on 17th saw him drop down.

Madappa was hanging around with the <g data-gr-id="59">cutline</g> the whole afternoon before finally missing it by one after a very colourful round, which included five birdies, seven bogeys and a double bogey. A closing birdie on 18th could still not keep him in for the final two rounds. It was an extremely windy <g data-gr-id="64">morning,</g> when the 27 players came back to resume their first round. All of them were hit by the windy  conditions and the worst hit was India’s Priyanshu Singh. The 19-year-old Florida-based <g data-gr-id="60">lad</g>, needing to play four holes in the morning dropped a bogey on 15th and then had back-to-back double bogeys on 17th and 18th to drop from five-under to even par.

Priyanshu came back for the second round an hour and a half later. But things did not change much and finished with a 74 and a total of four-over 144 for 36 holes. He spent the rest of the day watching the cutline and finally resigned to the fate of missing it. He dropped as many as seven shots on 17th and 18th on Friday.

China’s Guan Tianlang had extremely contrasting fortunes on his first and second <g data-gr-id="56">nines</g>. Starting on the tenth, he began with five straight bogeys and a triple, making him eight-over for six holes. Then he birdied the 18th to turn in seven-over. On the second nine, the front stretch of the course, birdied four times to get to 73 and total 143 to make the cut.