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Jeev makes the cut

India's ace golfer Jeev Milkha Singh fired four under 67 in the second round for a total of three under 139 and made yet another cut in the Euorpean PGA Tour.

Jeev, who had a one over par 72 opening round for 62nd place, hit peak form in the second round at Saint Nom La Breteche course in France to move up to the 17th place with nine others in the 112,000 Euro Trophy Lancome tournament yesterday.

The cut was applied at one over 143. Among those who missed the cut were Spaniard legend Seve Ballesteros, who finished last with 16 over 158, Germany's Bernhard Langer, who became the only player to have stayed in the top-50 of the world ranking for 700 consecutive weeks since its inception, and India-born Swede Daniel Chopra, who was six over after two rounds.

It looked like an early exit for the Hero Honda-sponsored Chandigarh based pro when nothing seemed to be going right for him on the opening day. Starting from the 10th tee with a bogey, jeev found the birdies hard to get. Further bogies on the par-4 13th, par-5 16th and par-4 fourth saw him tied for the 119th at the end of the 16th hole.

But the only Indian on the Euorpean PGA Tour caught fire thereafter. An eagle on the 509-yard, par-5 8th spurred him on and to a birdie to finish the day at one over 72.

According to information, Jeev continued in the same vein yesterday as he began with successive birdies on the par-4 first and second holes. After parring the third, he then made a hat-trick of birdies from the fourth to the sixth holes. At this stage the Indian professional was eight under for his last eight holes.

The heat dissipated thereafter as Jeev made eight successive pars before making the first bogey of his second round on the 15th hole. He negated that with a birdie on the 16th but the tough closing hole of Saint-Nom, a long par-3, gave him another bogey on the card for a four under 67 round.

Leading the tournament at the halfway stage was defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain. Jimenez shot a seven-under 64 on day two to tally 10-under 132 for two rounds and opened up a three-stroke lead over England's Gary Evans. Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, hunting for a record-equalling sixth title in one European PGA Tour season, was among four tied for the third place at six-under 136.

Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain and Frenchman Jean Van De Velde, who narrowly missed winning this year's British Masters, were among those tied for the 10th place at four-under 138.

Scores (after 36 holes):
1st: 132 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp) 68"64, 2nd: 135 - Gary Evans (Eng) 71"64, T-3rd: 136 - Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70"66, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 66"70, Michael Campbell (NZ) 68"68, Santiago Luna (Esp) 70"66, T-7th: 137 - Ignacio Garrido (Esp) 67"70, Jose Coceres (Arg) 66"71, Alex Cejka (Ger) 64"73, T-17th: 139-Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72"67.

UNI