The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Jeev, last man to survive cut as Indians struggle

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Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
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Sport - Golf

Jeev, last man to survive cut as Indians struggle

Rakesh Rao

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

GOOD SHOW: Chinese Taipei’s Tse Peng Chang had the day’s best card.

NEW DELHI: Whether Jeev Milkha Singh makes the cut or not remained the big question for the better part of the day.

Eventually, in spite of three double-bogeys and some circumspect putting, the World No. 77 made it on the ‘bubble’ to play over the weekend of the $500,000 Hero Honda Indian Open golf championship here on Friday.

Jeev found himself at the end of the 73-player list of survivors for the weekend action. He followed his par round with a poor 74 to be the last man to make the cut that came at 146.

Presently, he is tied for the 63rd spot with 10 others. In all, 25 Indians made sure of being in the money-list on Sunday.

“My game is not suited for the Delhi Golf Club course. I like to hit long and get it as far as possible. I play a little left and right and that can be big trouble here,” was the candid confession from Jeev.

Nirat leads

Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat, one among the six overnight leaders after an opening round of six-under 66, maintained his position with a 67 for a two-round aggregate of 11-under 133.

A little later, Chinese Taipei’s Chang Tse-Peng shot the day’s best of seven-under 65 to join Nirat in the lead.

Australia’s David Gleeson, who started the day in joint lead, was third after a 68 gave him a tally of 134.

A shot behind was Shamim Khan who led the home challenge with a 69, one stroke more than his Thursday’s effort to be joint-fourth.

He sank four birdies against a lone bogey. His percentage effort still looked good because most of his better known compatriots disappointed.

Improved card

Randhawa came up with an improved card after starting from the 10th tee, but what left him frustrated was that his only blemish came on the last hole.

“The finishing bogey was disappointing. I was actually looking for a birdie on the ninth, and I ended with a bogey. Five or six shots off the lead after two rounds, well…, I’ll take my chances. On the DGC, anything can happen and there are still two full rounds to go,” he said.

Gaurav Ghei and Gurbaaz Mann, two of the overnight leaders, could manage only 73 and 76, respectively.

Ghei looked good for a sub-par card after successive birdies on the 13th and 14th holes, but bogeyed the last two holes for a frustrating finish.

Mann took the turn at 36 in spite of an ‘eagle’ on the eighth hole. He started his back-nine journey with a double bogey and bogeyed four more holes.

The birdies on 12th and 13th prevented his card from looking worse.

The scores (Indians unless stated):

Chapchai Nirat (Tha) (66, 67) and Chang Tse-Peng (Tpe) (68, 65) 133; David Gleeson (Aus) (66, 68) 134; Shamim Khan (68, 69) and Hur In-Hoi (Kor) (66, 71) 137; Gary Rusnak (USA) (71, 67) and Rahil Gangjee (71, 67) 138.

Jyoti Randhawa (70, 69), Unho Park (Aus) (70, 69), Danny Chia (Mas) (66, 73), Gaurav Ghei (66, 73) and S.S.P. Chowrasia (68, 71) 139.

Other Indians to make the cut: Ashok Kumar (68, 73) 141; Jairveer Virk (73, 69), Gurbaaz Mann (66, 76) and Mukesh Kumar (73, 69) 143.

Digvijay Singh (73, 70), Rahul Bakshi (A) (70, 73), Arjun Singh (73, 70), Vijay Kumar (72, 71) and Chirag Kumar (69, 74) 143.

Gaganjeet Bhullar (71, 73) 144; Rashid Khan (A) (74, 71), Harinder Gupta (71, 74), Amardip Malik (71 74), Rahul Ganapathy (69, 76) and Firoz Ali (7, 74) 145.

Gagan Verma (A) (72, 74), Uttam Singh Mundy (70, 76), Harmeet Kahlon (71, 75), Mohammad Islam (69, 77) and Jeev Milkha Singh (72, 74) 146.

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