Rashid, Shubhankar keep Indian hopes alive

Gurugram: Rashid Khan and Shubhankar Sharma shot contrasting second rounds of two-under-70 and one-over-73, respectively, but both managed to keep Indian hopes alive at the halfway stage of the Indian Open at the DLF Golf & Country Club here on Friday.

Two-time Asian Tour winner Khan and two-time European Tour winner Sharma were the best-placed Indians at the end of round two at tied 19th with a tally of two-under-142. The duo trailed the leader Julian Suri of the US by eight shots at the $1.75 million event.

PGTI member N Thangaraja (71-70) of Sri Lanka returned a two-under-70 to end the day in tied 12th place at three-under-141. He gained 16 places from round one.

The cut was declared at two-over-146. Seventy professionals made the cut. Out of a total of 37 Indians, eight made the cut.

Khan (72-70) made significant gains in round two as he climbed 27 spots from his overnight tied 46th position after mixing four birdies with two bogeys for a 70. Khan, a winner of two events on the PGTI tour in the last four months, reaped the reward of getting some good practice at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens course in Ahmedabad last week that prepared him well for the daunting challenge at the DLF course.

Sharma (69-73) slipped 12 spots on Friday after a sedate 73 that saw him make two birdies and three bogeys. After a consistent first round, Sharma, the 2018 European Tour Rookie of the Year, made a flying start in round two with a birdie on the first. However, his putting let him down thereafter as he dropped bogeys on the fourth and eighth and found it hard to recover subsequently.

S Chikkarangappa (70) and Rahil Gangjee (74) were the next best Indians in tied 41st at even-par-144. Ajeetesh Sandhu (71) was a further shot back in tied 53rd. The trio of Gaganjeet Bhullar (74), Gaurav

Pratap Singh (73) and two-time Indian Open champion

SSP Chawrasia (72) also made it to the weekend as they totalled two-over-146 to be placed tied 61st.