The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Jyoti Randhawa battles to be sixth, Jeev slips to 38th

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Jyoti Randhawa battles to be sixth, Jeev slips to 38th

Kildare (Ireland): Jyoti Randhawa found things more testing and challenging but carded an even par 70 to stay in the top-10 at the Smurfit European Open at the K Club here.

Randhawa, who fired a flawless 65 on the first day, had three birdies on the front nine, but dropped shots on the 13th and 18th to be at sixth spot after holding second place at the end of the first round.

Compatriot Jeev Milkha Singh (73) dropped to 38th while Shiv Kapur (74) missed the cut.

European Tour Qualifying School graduate Pelle Edberg produced some amazing shots and added a second round of five-under par 65 to his opening 67 to move to the top of the leaderboard with a 36-hole total of eight-under par 132.

Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and Niclas Fasth of Sweden shared second place, one behind Edberg.

Jostling for lead

Randhawa looked good with a birdie on third and despite a bogey on the sixth, he added birdies on the seventh and ninth holes to turn in two-under, at which stage he was jostling for the lead.

However, bogeys on the 13th and 18th saw him slip, but he is still in touch at just three off the lead.

Randhawa found fewer fairways and greens in regulation than the first day and needed three more putts than the 26 in the first round.

Jeev, starting on the 10th, had seven pars before a bogey on the 17th and another one on the first.

After a birdie on the third, he ran into a double bogey on the fourth. A bogey on the seventh and birdie on the ninth saw him come back with a three-over 73 that saw him slide to tied 38th, down from tied 12th overnight.

Atwal moves up

At Highland Heights (Ohio), Arjun Atwal rode on a hat-trick of birdies in his back nine to return a card of three-under 68 and move up to the tied 26th spot after the second round of Legend Financial Group Classic on the US Nationwide Tour.

Atwal is four-under 138 after two rounds and six off the lead, held by Australian Scott Gardiner (66).

A 10th tee starter, Atwal sunk in four birdies in his flawless back nine.

He started with a birdie on the 10th and then followed it up with a hat-trick of birdies from 13th to 15th to make the turn four-under.

However, his front nine was not that smooth as he stumbled to a first-hole bogey. Atwal made amends with a birdie on the fourth but a dropped shot on the eighth denied him a higher position on the leaderboard.

Meanwhile, a second straight five-under 66 took Gardiner to the top of the leaderboard. The 31-year-old Australian moved to 10-under 132, one stroke in front of Keith Nolan (65) and James Driscoll (68). — Agencies

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