Chandigarh, Nov 12: After a day which saw most of the big guns sliding down the list a familiar name adorned the top of the leaderboard. Improving on his even par score in the first round, Rashid Khan shot a 71 to move up to the top of the pile at the end of the second day’s play at the LG Samarvir Sahi Amateur being played at the Chandigarh Golf Club.
Starting the day two shots behind the overnight leader, Rashid Khan had a bit of an up and down start with his card reading par, birdie and double bogey after the first three holes. "I hit my shot off the third tee into the bunker and when I reached the spot it was plugged in the bunker" said Rashid. But he did not let the double bogey deter him and found his stride again, making birdies on the next two holes before the run was stopped by a four foot putt that he missed on the lower side at the 6th. He said "I still had the feel and was hitting good irons from the fairway so the double bogey did not really bother me that much".
"I was a bit unlucky with a couple of missed pars on the back nine" he said, reflecting on his bogeys on the 15th and 18th. He said "On the 15th my second shot found the lip of the bunker and on the finishing hole the tee shot was right under the tee".
Right behind Rashid was Vikram Rana who shot the best round of the day, a three under par 69. Vikram Rana has had a pretty solid run this season with two second place finishes, one at the LG Southern India Amateur and the other one at the LG Coimbatore Open amateur. This time around he would be hoping to go one better and win the title. Talking about his round he said "My game was pretty solid and I hit the ball pretty well. The longest birdie putt that I made was a ten footer on the 15th but I missed a short one on the very next hole". It could have been an even better round considering the fact that he did not manage a birdie on any of the par 5 holes.
The leaderboard wore a new look after most of the overnight occupants slid down; prominent among them being Gagan Verma who could only manage a 79 in the second round. With two more rounds left, the race for the LG Samarvir Sahi Amateur title is still wide open but one would have to consider Rashid Khan as the favourite. With two back to back titles on the LG Amateur Tour and a much improved thumb, one would be hard pressed to bet against him. The stage is set for a good finish the LG Samarvir Sahi Amateur.
Scores: 1. Rashid Khan (143); 2. Vikram Rana (144); 3.Aman Guron (148); 4. Pawan Kumar, Gagan Verma, Aditya Bhandarkar, Karan Vasudeva (149); 8. Abhishek Jha, Angad Cheema (150); 10. Navtez Singh, Abhinav Lohan (151); 12. Samresh Sardar, Manav Das (152); 14. Keshav Kapoor (153);