Mukesh, Gaurav share lead

Mukesh Kumar moved in to a position of winning back-to-back titles on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour when he shot a four-under 68 to join overnight leader Gaurav Ghei on top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the Rs 150,000 Sher-e-Kashmir Open, being played at the breathtaking Royal Springs Golf Course, in Srinagar, on Friday.

Gaurav added a two-under 70 to his 68 of Thursday and was at six-under 138, the same as Mukesh. Jyoti Randhawa shot his second successive two-under 70 to move up to tied third place at four-under 140 along with Jaiveer Virk, who returned a level-par 72 card on Friday.

The cut was applied at 14-over 158 and 51 pros made it to the third round.

Mukesh Kumar, who won the Mahindra Champion Golfer of the Year award for the past two seasons, played only two bad shots during the entire round and was unlucky to be penalized with bogeys. On the par-5 10th, he hit his second shot into the adjoining marshy land, and on the par-5 14th, he sent a powerful sand wedge third shot from 70 yards over the green and missed his chip-putt.

"It is frustrating to get bogeys where I should have made birdies. But if I forget those two holes, I putted very well and missed nothing that I could put within 12 feet of the pin. Putting was the key today," said the Mhow-based player who required 27 putts to complete the round.

There was a stage in the round where Mukesh made six birdies in a stretch of nine holes between the seventh and 15th and all resulting in putts in the range of eight to ten feet.

Gaurav, whose last victory was at the HT ProGolf 2000 at the DLF Golf & Country Club almost a year back, was looking forward to breaking the so-called drought at his in-laws’ town.

"My confidence is coming back slowly and the first round yesterday was a great morale booster. I am feeling good about about my swing after many days," said the India Cements sponsored Ghei after the round.

The Delhi-based pro began well with birdies on the first and third holes.

"I began well and could have made an eagle on the par-4 third but my second shot stopped about two inches from the cup. Thereafter the putts just did not drop for me. I gave myself quite a few chances but the only one I could convert after that was a 20-footer on the final hole," said Ghei.

Ghalib leads amateurs: Ghalib Shah shot a 77 on day-two to take a two-stroke lead over Ashfaq Ahmed. However, Shah would not be eligible for the top-prize as he is under the one-year notice period of reverting to amateur status.

Scores (after 36 holes): 138_Mukesh Kumar(70,68); Gaurav Ghei (68,70); 140_Jyoti Randhawa(70,70), Jaiveer Virk (68,72); 141_Digvijay Singh(73,68), Monish Bindra(72,69), Rafiq Ali(71,70), Shamim Khan(71,70); 142_Rahul Ganapathy(72,70), Feroz Ali(71,71); 143_Vinod Kumar(72,71), Vijay Kumar(70,73), Rohtas Singh(70,73); 144_Sanjay Kumar(73,71).

Amateurs: 153_Ghalib Shah(76,77); 155_Ashfaq Ahmed(74,81); 162_Suhail Khanday(82,80)