Bhullar rises to third, chases internationals Shah and Fuentes in IGPL Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad, Dec 3 (PTI) Top Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar fired four birdies in his last eight holes to turn in a five-under 67 in the second round and jump 11 places to Tied-third at the IGPL Invitational Ahmedabad, here Wednesday.

Bhullar, who was 1-under for the first round, carded six birdies against one bogey to rise to 6-under with one round to go.

In the first round, Bhullar had a hole-in-one.

Bhullar is chasing the international duo of Indian American Manav Shah (67) who had a bogey free round, and Mexican Santiago de la Fuentes (70). They are now 7-under and one ahead of Bhullar.

Bhullar is bidding to make it three in three on the IGPL Tour after having won the first two IGPL events of the season in Chandigarh and Jaypee Greens. He then skipped the next six events to play International Series events and to attend family matters.

A win tomorrow will make him the first player to grab three wins on the IGPL Tour. Apart from Bhullar, the only other player to win twice on the IGPL is Aman Ran.

Bhullar was tied third with young rookie pro Raghav Chugh (68) who also is at 6-under for two days.

Shah, a former winner on the PGA Tour of Latin America, had one birdie on the front nine and four more on the back stretch against no bogeys.

Mexican Fuentes, who is a former winner of the Latin America Amateur championships and has played Majors, shot 70. He had five birdies, including two on the 16th and the 17th, against three bogeys.

Young Veer Ganapathy, who shot 8-under on the first day, dropped to 3-over for the second day and is now Tied-5th with 5-under total. Ganapathy is tied fifth with Karandeep Kochhar (69) at 5-under.

Another Indian American Varun Chopra (68), young Kartik Singh (70) and Filipino Justin Quiban (70) are tied seventh, while the legendary SSP Chawrasia (72) and Sachin Baisoya (73) round off the Top-10 and are both 3-under.

IGPL Pune winner, Kapil Kumar (73) at 2-under total is sole 12th.

The top woman pro was Ridhima Dilawari (72) at 1-under and was Tied-13th overall. She is tied with M Dharma (71), Aalaap IL (73) and Yashas Chandra (73).

Aman Raj, who leads the IGPL Order of Merit, is tied 17th with Pukhraj Singh Gill and both are even par for two rounds, as is Saarthak Chibber. PTI ATK AT