Rashid Khan stays ahead in round two

Abhinav Lohan sparkles with a bogey-free 65

Aamby Valley City, Maharashtra, November 14, 2012: Rashid Khan held on
to his lead in round two of the PGTI Players Championship presented by
Aamby Valley City after he carded a sedate one-under-71 at the Aamby
Valley Golf Course on Wednesday. RashidⳠtotal stands at
seven-under-137 at the halfway stage. Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad
sparkled with a bogey-free 65 that placed him one stroke behind the
leader in tied second place along with Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh
who shot a 70 in round two.

The cut was declared at four-over-148. Fifty-two professionals made the cut.

Rashid Khan (66-71) managed to hang on to his overnight lead on
Wednesday after posting four birdies and three bogeys in round two.
Khan had a slow start to the day as he made pars on the first six
holes and bogeyed the seventh after finding the hazard. He got back to
level-par for the day thanks to a fine approach shot on the ninth that
set up a seven feet birdie putt. Rashid then made three-putts on the
10th and 11th to drop bogeys on both holes.

The 21-year-old from the Delhi Golf Club made three birdies on the
next five holes to end the day at one-under. His last birdie of the
day was a result of a chip-in on the 16th.

㉠did not putt well today. I couldnⴠconvert my opportunities on the
greens unlike round one. I lost my way in the middle stages of the
round with those two three-putts. However, I managed to comeback well
after that to close the day with an under-par score,䠳aid Rashid.

Abhinav Lohan (73-65) followed up his first round effort of 73 with a
contrasting 65 in round two to climb from overnight tied 36th to tied
second place. Lohan, a 10th tee starter on Wednesday, picked up
birdies on the 12th and 14th, both par-5 holes, to make early inroads.
He landed his third shot from 65 yards to within four feet of the flag
on the 12th.

Lohan had a very fruitful front-nine as he sank a 20-footer for birdie
on the first and followed that up with a chip-in for birdie on the
second. Two conversions from 10 feet gave him birdies on the fourth
and seventh. The 22-year-old᳠second shot on the ninth stopped three
feet from the pin and led to a birdie that helped him shoot a 65, the
best score of the tournament so far.

㉠converted all my chances today and hit it close with the wedges
especially on the short par-4s and the par-5s. The putter was hot as I
managed to hole some long putts. I did not make any errors unlike
round one,䠳aid Lohan, who along with Rashid Khan, was a member of
the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian
Games.

Harendra Gupta (68-70) joined Lohan in tied second place after
returning a 70 in round two. GuptaⳠround included four birdies and
two bogeys.

Delhi-based Raj Randhawa, AustraliaⳠAnthony Choat, Ajeetesh Sandhu
of Chandigarh and DelhiⳠVinod Kumar are in joint fourth place at
five-under-139.