Thousands of miles from his native Scandinavia, Nils Floren made himself at home at Bangalore’s Eagleton Golf Resort, returning an astonishing card of 10-under 62 on the second day of the Asian Development Tour’s Take Solutions India Masters.
The Swede’s performance — no record, though, as players were allowed preferred lies — catapulted him into second place, one stroke behind leader Abhishek Jha, who signed for a two-round total of 132.
The overnight leader S. Chikkarangappa had seemed on course to remain in front again, but blundered on the final hole, a triple-bogey putting him two shots off the top.
Jha began Thursday’s round with birdies on one and four before making eagle on the par-five seventh. Having crept to within 14 feet of the flag with his second shot, Jha sank an excellent putt to go four under. There was a wobble on the 17th, when he dragged his drive to the right, but a fine, low shot through the trees earned him another birdie.
“My earlier aim was to make the cut. The kind of form I was in, I didn’t think it would happen. Now, I have to re-set my target,” the 27-year-old said later. The highlight of Floren’s round — which was as much a surprise to him as those around — was an eagle on the sixth, when he holed his second shot from 128 yards. “The ball had disappeared and I thought it had gone beyond the green. The caddie told me that it had gone in,” the 25-year-old said.
Chikkarangappa, meanwhile, refused to be downcast about events on the 18th, when his second shot, from the rough, nestled in the fronds on a coconut tree. A forecaddie scurried up to retrieve the ball, and Chikkarangappa carried on with a penalty drop.
Before that point, he had been five-under for the day. “It happens sometimes. I’m going to let it go. There’s still a lot of golf left,” he said.
Khalin Joshi was tied for fourth with Deepinder Singh Kullar (136), with C. Muniyappa joint fifth (137). The cut was declared at five-over 149. Fifty-two professionals and one amateur made the cut.
The scores (top eight after 36 holes): 132: Abhishek Jha (66, 66); 133: Nils Floren (Swe) (71, 62); 134: S. Chikkarangappa (64, 70); 136: Khalin Joshi (67, 69), Deepinder Singh Kullar (67, 69); 137: C. Muniyappa (69, 68), Niall Turner (Irl) (67, 70); 138: M. Dharma (67, 71), Pijit Petchkasem (Tha) (65, 73).
