Jeev top Indian as Chawrasia also makes cut; Rumford leads

Seasoned Jeev Milkha Singh, who has his swing coach and friend, Amritinder Singh on the bag with him, turned in a fine four-under 68 to position himself well in the innovative ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth on Friday. The Indian ace had five birdies against one bogey and moved to Tied-17th with six-under 138 after 36 holes at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

Two other Indians, SSP Chawrasia (71-68) and Chiragh Kumar (70-69) were Tied-26th, while Gaganjeet Bhullar (72-69) was T-41st. They all crossed the first hurdle of the cut after 36 holes, which fell at one-under 143 at the A $1.75 million event tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour. Home favourite Brett Rumford of Australia continued to delight the galleries by taking the second round lead with a seven-under-par 65.

There will be a second cut after 54 holes and only the Top 24 will proceed to Matchplay on Sunday. Each match will be a six-hole affair. The top-eight players after the third round will be rewarded with an automatic seeding into the second matchplay round.

Four other Indians, Shiv Kapur (70-73) and Jyoti Randhawa (71-72) at T-68, S Chikkarangappa (71-73) at T-88th and Rahil Gangjee (75-81) at T-154th missed the first cut.

Jeev said, "It felt good to hit it nicely off the tee and hole some putts. With Amritinder, my coach, around I have been working on some small adjustments in my swing and it helped here. This is a great format and makes it interesting. I am going to give it all to make it to the knock-out on Sunday."