Gill and Gautam emerge joint leaders after round two of Phillaur Open

Phillaur (Punjab), Mar 4 (PTI) Sukhraj Singh Gill and Rajesh Kumar Gautam held the joint lead with a total of five-under 137 after round two of the DP World PGTI Phillaur Open, here Wednesday.

Gill (70-67) and Gautam (70-67), who were both overnight tied ninth, followed up their first-round scores of one-under 70 with scores of four-under 67 in round two, to move into the joint lead.

Aditya Raj Singh Chahal, Pankaj Maandiya, Shaurya Sharma and Md Muaj, were all placed tied third at totals of four-under 138.

The cut went at three-over 145. The top 42 professionals made the cut for the third and final round.

Teenager Sukhraj Singh Gill, who hails from Canada, made an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys during round two while Lucknow-based Gautam, a winner on the NexGen last year, made an eagle, three birdies and a bogey on Wednesday.

"My hitting was exceptional today. I landed three shots within three feet of the pin that all produced birdies. I also holed an eagle from the bunker on the 10th. However, the focus in the final round will be on my putting as I missed a lot of putts today especially on the front-nine. I don’t want to repeat that come the last round," Gautam said, Phillaur-based professional Swatanter Kumar made the cut as he tottaled three-over 145 after two rounds. PTI Corr APS APS