Shamim Khan fires a 67 for the second round lead

Kathmandu, Nepal, April 24, 2014: Delhi’s Shamim Khan (66-67) followed up his first round of 66 with a solid 67 to be the second round leader at 11-under-133 at the Surya Nepal Masters 2014. Shamim, who was placed third on day one, made six birdies and a bogey on Thursday. Khan, a former champion, fired three consecutive birdies from the first to the third.

Chikkaragappa (69-65) of Bangalore and Panchkula';s Angad Cheema (64-70) were placed tied second at 10-under-134.

Shamim made a steady start as he birdied the tough par-5 15^th and the par-4 17^th to make the turn at two-under. The 36-year-old was then on fire on the back nine where he made a hat-trick of birdies on the first three holes. A bogey on the sixth was nullified by a birdie on the seventh as he finished the day at five-under.

Chikkarangappa’s seven-under-65 was the best score of day two and featured nine birdies and two bogeys. Chikka’s second round effort helped him climb from overnight tied 12^th to tied second.

Cheema on the other hand, conceded his overnight lead by slipping one place to tied second. His card included an eagle, three birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey.

R Murthy of Bangalore was in fourth position at eight-under-136 while the Kolkata duo of Shankar Das and Mohammad Sanju were a further shot back in joint fifth.

Sanjay Lama was the highest-placed Nepalese golfer at tied seventh with a six-under-138 total. Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan, Chandigarh golfer Abhijit Singh Chadha and Gaurav Ghei of Delhi share seventh place with Lama.

Defending champion and local favourite Shivaram Shrestha (67-72) came up with an even-par-72 in round two to be placed tied 11th at five-under-139.

As many as 50 professionals and two amateurs made the cut which went at a sharp two-over-146.