Inaugural IGPL: Bhullar joins Binu in lead with card of 71

Chandigarh, Sep 11 (PTI) Gaganjeet Bhullar lived up to his top billing with a steady 1-under 71 that carried him to the top and into a share of the first place with overnight leader Shaurya Binu on day two of the inaugural IGPL Invitational golf tournament here Thursday.

Bhullar (70-71) and Binu (69-72) were both tied at 3-under as the opening event of the IGPL Tour hung in balance, with two others Kapil Kumar and Harendra Singh, at 1-under and two shots behind in tied third place.

Six others were at even par on a course that did not yield many low scores and resulted in a tightly bunched leaderboard ahead of the final day.

No less than 10 players were within three shots of each other as the fight to become the first IGPL champion got intense.

Making it even more exciting was the presence of a woman pro, Jahanvi Bakshi, who was tied fifth with five others and just three behind the leaders. A win for her would be historic and do wonders for Jahanvi as she slowly makes her way back from injuries over the last few years.

Attracting a lot of attention on a crowded leaderboard were two debutant professionals, Kartik Singh (73-71) and Veer Ganapathy (72-72).

Kartik, Veer and Jahanvi were tied fifth alongside Sanju Kumar, local man Ranjit Singh and Saarthak Chibber, who bounced back on the second day with the day's best of 69 after a 75 on the first day.

Bhullar opened with a bogey but rallied with birdies on the second and the fourth before turning in a series of pars. He birdied the 12th but gave back that gain on the 14th with a bogey for a 71 that took him to 3-under.

Binu, who began the day as the sole leader at 3-under, threatened to pull away from the field with early heroics. He was on song with three birdies against one bogey in the first seven holes.

After the turn, he added another one on the 12th to go three-under for the day and six-under for the tournament.

Then he struck a disastrous patch with a bogey-double bogey-bogey from the 14th to the 16th and went 1-over par. A birdie on the 17th was like a balm ahead of the final day. After 69 on the first day, he finished par on the second day.

Kartik's card suggests a roller-coaster of a round with five birdies and three bogeys. However, till the 16th, which he birdied, he was cruising and gunning for the lead at 2-under total. Then came the putting woes as he bogeyed the closing two holes to fall back to even par three behind the leaders.

Lying tied third were Kapil Kumar, who hails from a golfing family, and Harendra Gupta, whose love for and success at the Chandigarh Golf Club is almost unrivalled.

The top woman in the field after two days was Jahanvi, the older sister of Hitaashee, also an IGPL player, who is teeing up in Switzerland this week.

Six players, including Kartik and Veer, were among the large bunch in tied fifth place. PTI AH AT AT AT