Golfer Rashid Khan emerges halfway leader at PGTI meet

Kolkata, Dec 22 (IANS) Two time Asian Tour winner Delhi's Rashid Khan emerged halfway leader by shooting the best score of five-under-67 on day two of the Rs.1.5 crore McLeod Russel Tour Championship 201 here on Friday.

Rashid, who had a dream start to the day with birdies on the first four holes, totalled 10-under-134 after 36 holes to lead by one shot at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) here.

Bengaluru's Rahil Gangjee, the only golfer to be bogey-free through the first 36 holes, registered a 68 to occupy the second place at nine-under-135.

Round one leader Shubhankar Sharma of Chandigarh dropped to third place after a 70 that moved his total to eight-under-136.

Rashid Khan (67-67), lying tied second and one off the lead after round one, went on the rampage at the start of round two, thanks to some extremely accurate iron shots.

Rashid then stumbled with a double-bogey on the seventh where he couldn't recover from a tough lie in the rough in his first attempt.

However, he rallied with two long birdie conversions on the ninth and 14th to return to four-under for the day.

The reigning PGTI Order of Merit champion then had a stroke of good luck on the 18th where his approach shot from the rough hit the flag stick and landed two feet from the hole thereby resulting in a tap-in birdie.

"Those four consecutive birdies at the start really set up my round. I was a little disappointed with the double bogey on the seventh but was thrilled to make a good comeback thereafter as I sank three birdies and didn't drop a single shot. I got lucky on the last hole," he said.

Gangjee's (67-68) consistent putting kept him in the hunt as he went error-free for the second straight day. Gangjee made an incredible 35-footer for birdie on the 12th and also recovered well from the rough to extract a birdie on the 15th.

Shubhankar slipped to third after an off day with the putter. He made pars on the first 10 holes but then picked up the pace with three birdies on the next five holes. However, Sharma then dropped a bogey on the 16th to finish behind the leader.

Local favourite S.S.P. Chawrasia gained eight spots to jump from overnight tied 12th to tied fourth with Patna's Aman Raj at five-under-139.

The five players bunched in tied sixth at four-under-140 included Kolkata-based rookie Viraj Madappa, Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja, Chandigarh's Ajeetesh Sandhu, Khalin Joshi of Bengaluru and Gurugram's Veer Ahlawat.

Shivendra Singh Sisodia's 67 was the day's joint best score along with Rashid's. It placed the Gurugram professional in tied 16th at one-under-143.