Chowrasia soars to join Ganapathy, Chirag Kumar on BILT Open top

Greater Noida, Oct 27 (UNI) Hailed as the next big thing in Indian golf, Kolkata pro SSP Chowrasia carded a sensational second round of seven-under 65 to join Rahul Ganapathy and amateur Chirag Kumar at the lead at nine-under 135 in the BILT Open here today.

Chowrasia's was the best round of the day and he dropped his only shot of the day on the par-four first hole where he missed a 30-footer for par after pulling his pitching-wedge approach shot into the left bunker.

However, he responded with a string of birdies on the second, third, fourth, seventh and ninth holes to make the turn at four-under and a birdie trio on the back nine -- on 11th, 12th and 15th -- put him in a tie for the lead.

''I am hitting the ball well and my game is good. There is no pressure on me now as I have kept my card for the Asian Tour. I am looking forward to playing with Jyoti Randhawa again on the weekend and learning something from him,'' said Chowrasia, who was beaten in the Indian Open playoff by Randhawa.

''My game plan is to hit the greens in regulation as I am confident that I can hole putts in order to make birdies,'' said the golfer, nicknamed ''Chipputtsia'' for his magical short game.

Ganapathy carded three-under 69, while amateur Chirag Kumar played almost flawless golf for a second round of six-under 66.

Overnight leader Randhawa was just one stroke behind the leaders with a 36-hole total of eight-under 136 after carding a two-under 70 today.

Randhawa mixed three bogeys and five birdies in his second round.

''I was not as focused as I was yesterday but I got my focus back in the back nine. The pin positions were also tough and I just kept hitting the wrong side of the hole,'' said the Indian Open champion.

Leading score: 135: SSP Chowrasia (70, 65), Rahul Ganapathy (66, 69), Chirag Kumar (69, 66) 136: Jyoti Randhawa (66, 70) 137: Himmat Singh Rai (68, 69) 138: Harmeet Kahlon (66, 72), Lam Chih Bing (70, 68), Amandeep Johl (70, 68) 139: Gurbaaz Mann (67, 72), Harinder Gupta (69, 71); 140: Rafael Ponce (69, 71); 141: Shiv Kapur (75, 66), Digvijay Singh (70, 71), Amardeep Malik (73, 68), Gagan Verma (67, 74); 142_AS Lehal (70,72); C Muniyappa(67, 75), Jaiveer Virk (73, 69), Uttam Singh Mundy (68, 74), Vivek Bhandari (72, 70), Rick Gibson (72, 70) UNI AY DH HS1923