Mukesh gains four-stroke lead

Chandigarh, Apr 19 (UNI) Veteran Mukesh Kumar fired a superb seven-under 65 to tie the course record and also grab a four-stroke lead on the second day of the Rs 12 lakh prize money Hero Golf Chandigarh Open here today .

Overnight joint leader Uttam Singh Mundy of Kolkata added 70 to his overnight 67 to be placed second at seven-under 137. The other overnight leader Vinod Kumar, despite firing eight birdies while losing seven strokes, was third at six-under 138. Vijay Kumar shot a sweet 66.

Sixty-two professionals and three amateurs, Rahul Bakshi, Gaganjeet Bhullar, HS Kang--made the cut which was applied at 8-over par 152. Defending champion Harinder Gupta was tied for the 19 th position with level par 144.

Mukesh started his clinical round with a par and was soon in the thick of action making a birdie on the second. Soon it was nullified on the fourth when he muffed a 10-footer. After a birdie on the fifth, Mukesh sank a 20-footer downhill putt to save another shot.

He made the only other blemish on the par-4 12 th where he missed a short par putt after being under a tree on his second shot.

Mukesh was a different player from then onwards, missing an eagle on the 13th from four feet after a good drive and a six-iron approach. His putting improved as he progressed making a difficult downhill putt on the par-3 14 th for yet another birdie. With a long drive on the par-5 16th, he overshot the green with a sand wedge.

However, he chipped-in from 40 feet for an eagle. With some awesome drives on the last two holes, he signed off with consecutive birdies tied the course record with Jeev Milkha Singh and Arjun Singh.

Mundy made two birdies in the first three holes with a bogey sandwiched in between. A bogey-birdie finish on the 12 th and 13th respectively, he saved one more stroke on the par-5 16th to finish the day at two-over 70.

Vinod Kumar had a roller-coaster round making five birdies and four bogeys in his front nine. The birdies came on the 2 nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th while the bogeys came on the 1st, 3rd, 7th and 9th.

On the back nine, he met with similar fate making birdies on the 11 th and 16th. However, with a bogey and a double bogey finish, Vinod managed a round of 1-under.

UNI XC DP HSB KN1923