Harendra Gupta maintains lead in PGTI Players Championship

Kolkata, Jun 19 (UNI) Harendra Gupta was a three stroke lead on second day of the PGTI Players Championship here today.

The round one leader shot four under 65 to take his tournament total to seven under 98.

Round two could not be completed on Thursday as play started two hours behind schedule due to the course conditions after the overnight rain.

Twenty seven players are yet to finish the second round out of a total field of 108.

While Harendra Gupta led the field among the 81 golfers who finished round two, Ashok Kumar was three strokes behind him in second place. Ashok's total moved to four under 101 after he carded two under 67 in the second round.

Today par for the course was 69 as three par four holes, the ninth, 10th and 16th were reduced to par 3 at the start of the round due to course conditions. The second round will now be completed on Friday before the cut is made. The third round will commence thereafter.

Harendra Gupta made it to the top of the leaderboard as a result of his bogey-free 65. He fired three under 33 in the first round.

Gupta's second round included birdies on the seventh, 12th, 14th and 15th.

Delhi's Ashok Kumar (34, 67), currently placed second at four under 101, will certainly give Gupta a run for his money over the weekend. Ashok's second round was punctuated by birdies on the third, ninth, 16th and a bogey on the 18th.

Kolkata's Rahil Gangjee (34, 69) and Chandigarh's Ranjit Singh (35, 68) were currently tied third at two under 103. Gangjee's round of even par 69 was marked by birdies on the first, second, fourth, sixth, 15th, 18th and bogeys on the third and 10th. He also made double bogeys on the seventh and 11th. Ranjit Singh on the other hand made 17 pars and sank a lone birdie on the fourth.

Ranjit Singh from Kolkata, Vishal Singh, Chiragh Kumar, Digvijay Singh, Manav Jaini, Dayal Singh, Anirban Lahiri and Rahul Ganapathy were all in tied fifth place with an identical total of one under 104.

SSP Chowrasia (35, 70), Arjun Singh, Shankar Das, Uttam Singh Mundy, Vinod Kumar, Mohd. Siddikur Rehman and Divyanshu Bajaj (Amateur) were all tied 13th at even par 105.

Chowrasia's round included birdies on the second, 12th, 14th, and bogeys on the third, fourth, 10th and 18th.

Gaurav Ghei (39, 71) was tied 41st at five over 110.

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