Shiva Ram makes cut‚ Toran fails

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Shiva Ram Shrestha, the Nepal No 1 golfer, made the cut after carding one-over 73 in the second round of the PGTI Players Championship at the Golden Greens Golf Club in Gurgaon today.

The Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) pro Shiva Ram, who was tied for 12th after a round of two-under 70 on the first day, scored one-over 37 in the front nine and even-par 36 in the back nine. The RNGC pro, who qualified in the PGTI as the second best foreign golfer during the December’s Qualifying-School, was in a group of four golfers tied for 21st at one-under 143 for the tournament. The other three included the Indian trio of Ajeetesh Sandhu (71, 72), Deepinder Singh Kullar (74, 69) and Aditya Raj Kumar Chauhan (70, 73).

In the front nine, Shiva Ram sank a birdie in the par-3 third but had back-to-back bogeys in the par-4 fourth and fifth holes. He bagan the back nine with a birdie but again dropped shots at 11th and 12 holes. He earned a shot in the par-4 16th to close the round at one-over 73.

Another Nepali golfer Toran Bikram Shahi — who has been playing in the PGTI for more than a decade now — made a remarkable recovery in the second round, shooting one-over 73 but still failed to make the cut. He scored a six-over 78 in the first round on Tuesday.

Toran was among the six golfers tied for 73rd at seven-over 151. Toran parred all the holes except for a bogey in the par-four 6th to take the turn at one-over 37. His back nine included two birdies in the 14th and 16th against as many a bogeye in the 11th and 15th holes.

Indian pro Manav Jaini took the sole possesson atop the leaderboard after a second round score of nine-under 135. He was three strokes ahead of Moinuddin Malak, Rashid Khan, Ranjit Singh and Abhinav Lohan.