Golf: Siddikur has his nose ahead

Nirat two strokes behind; bad light stops play

November 09, 2013 12:44 am | Updated November 16, 2021 08:02 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

A fine eagle, following a great 12-foot putt, set the tone for Mohammad Siddikur. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

A fine eagle, following a great 12-foot putt, set the tone for Mohammad Siddikur. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Mohammad Siddikur finds a striking resemblance between his home course, the Kurmitola Golf Club in Dhaka, and the Delhi Golf Club (DGC).

At his second home, where he won the all-India amateur title in 2004, the Bangladeshi came up with another strong performance to finish as the clubhouse leader when play was suspended due to bad light in the second round of the Indian Open here on Friday.

Siddikur, overnight joint leader with five others, yet again carded a round of six-under 66 to gather a total of 132 and stay two strokes ahead of Thai golfer Chapchai Nirat, who shrugged off a minor health issue for a solid showing.

Indian challenger Rahil Gangjee, who was tied for the top spot on the opening day, had managed a 70 with two holes to go when the day’s action came to a halt. At that point, he was four shots away from the leader after bogeying the 16th.

S.S.P. Chowrasia was joint fifth with a four-under for an aggregate of 137. At the same total, Shankar Das, who was tied seventh in the first round, also stayed in contention with an unfinished two-under score.

The day’s action had started an hour-and-a-half late due to poor visibility.

Altogether, 26 players are set to resume their second round on Saturday.

Setting the tone

A fine eagle, following a great 12-foot putt, set the tone for Siddikur.

With a spring in his stride, he carried on aggressively and birdied the fifth and seventh before dropping a shot on the ninth.

He stepped up his pace to gain shots from 13th to 15th before bogeying the 16th.

He closed the day with an impressive 20-foot birdie putt on the par-five 18th.

Gangjee was frustrated after experiencing a roller-coaster round. A bogey each on the fifth and 16th, where he misread the line twice, somewhat spoiled his effort.

Leading scores:

Unfinished second round: Mohammad Siddikur (Ban) (66, 66) 132; Chapchai Nirat (Tha) (66, 68) 134; Adam Groom (Aus) (69, 67) and Rahil Gangjee (66, 70) 136; Angelo Que (Phi) (69, 68), S.S.P. Chowrasia (69, 68) and Shankar Das (67, 70) 137; Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) (70, 68), Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha) (66, 72), Seuk-Hyun Baek (Kor) (69, 69), Anirban Lahiri (71, 67) and Sanjay Kumar (70, 68) 138; Mardan Mamat (Sin) (66, 73) and Chiragh Kumar (69, 70) 139; Javi Colomo (Esp) (69, 71), Shamim Khan (68, 72), Kwanchai Tannin (Tha) (70, 70), Rashid Khan (69, 71), Jay Baron (Phi) (68, 72), Gi-whan Kim (Kor) (69, 71) and Abhinav Lohan (70, 70) 140.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.