Ahmedabad, February 24 (PTI) Manu Gandas produced a bogey-free six-under-30-year-old on the back of five straight birdies in the second round to take the lead at the Glade One Masters golf tournament on Wednesday.
Gandas, looking for his first win at PGTI, took the lead halfway with seven under 65. Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (34-32) finished just under second with six under 66 after shooting an impressive four under 32.
Four players – Bengalis Khalin Joshi (34) and Trishul Chinnappa (34), Faridabad-based Abhinav Lohan (34) and Om Prakash Chouhan (33) from Mhow – were put in third place with a total of four players out of four 68.
The cut was applied to two over 74. Fifty-five pros made the cut.
The tournament, which is to be played over 54 holes, has a unique format. The first two rounds consisted of nine holes each. The cut was applied after 18 holes. The third and fourth round now each have 18 holes.
Gandas produced five straight birdies from second through sixth, largely thanks to a hot putter as he sank three birdie putts from a range of 12 to 20 feet on the course.
He also had two quality ups and downs during this stage on the second and fifth. Gandas eventually signed off on the ninth with another 15-foot yardage conversion. He zoomed up and gained eight spots from his ninth place overnight.
Gandas, who started the second day behind the lead, said: “I’ve had two top 10 finishes since the tour resumed last November so the game is in good shape. My greatly improved ball stroke can be credited for this constant run. “
Sandhu, the 2019 PGTI Feeder Tour Order of Merit champion, got off to a nervous start when he turned the first one with a missed up and down. He was in third place after the first round and one place ahead of the lead and continued to miss opportunities on the next holes as his 10-foot birdie putts failed to find the hole in second, third, and fourth.
Sandhu’s fortune changed from the fifth on looking for an eagle from 20 yards. He pocketed two long birdies on the sixth and seventh from 10 to 20 feet.
Abhinav Lohan took third place for his Adler-Zwei on his 34th lap from 106 meters.
C Muniyappa of Bengaluru had a hole-in-one in seventh place in his round of 33, placing him eighth out of two under 70.
The joint leaders in the first round, M Dharma (38) from Bengaluru and Anshul Patel (41) from Ahmedabad, slipped to 14th place under 71 and 43rd place under 74.
The other two Ahmedabad-based pros who made the cut were Shravan Desai and Jay Pandya, both of whom finished 28th on One-over-73.
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