Aman stays three ahead as young Veer chases hard in IGPL Kolkata

Kolkata, Oct 30 (PTI) Aman Raj used all his experience to open up a three-shot lead after second round on a day marked by heavy rains that rendered the grounds at the Tollygunge Golf Club soft and soggy at the IGPL Invitational Kolkata.

Aman finished his round in near darkness and was three shots clear of rookie pro, Veer Ganapathy, who shot 1-under 69 in the first round but took good advantage of an early start to shoot 8-under 62 on the second day.

The final group which had the leader Aman Raj alongside Aalaap IL and Syed Saqib Ahmed putted out on the 18th even when the line for their putts was barely visible.

"Thank God we managed to finish," said Aman with a smile as he walked off the course.

Veer, who turned pro at the first IGPL event in Chandigarh, closed the overnight gap of six to just one when play was stopped for an hour and 48 minutes in the middle of the day.

Veer was 8-under for the day through 15 holes when the stoppage occurred and when play resumed he parred the remaining three to be 9-under for 36 holes.

Aalaap who had a rough start with three bogeys in the first seven holes made amends on the back nine, where he birdied four times on the 10h, 13th, 15th and the 16th but dropped a shot on the 18th in poor light.

Aalaap (65-71) was now 6-under and Tied-third with two-time All India Amateur champion, Aryan Roopa Anand (66-66) producing two very consistent rounds to get to 8-under.

Aryan, who had a fine front nine, closed very strongly with three birdies on the last three holes.

Syed Saqib Ahmed (66-71) and Yashas Chandra (68-67) were five-under and Tied-fifth, while Samarth Dwivedi (67-69) and veteran Chandigarh’s Ranjit Singh (69-67) were tied seventh.

Shaurya Binu (71-66), Kartik Sharma (66-71), Aditya Raj Chauhan (66-71 and Raghav Chugh (68-69) rounded off the Top-10. PTI AT KHS