Dharan, December 24

Amateur golfer Shiva Kumar Majhi opened up two-stroke lead over top pro Shivaram Shrestha after the second round of the Surya Nepal Eastern Open here at the Nirvana Country Club today.

Majhi carded second consecutive two-under 68 at his home course for a total score of four-under 136 that put him two strokes ahead going into the third and final round of the third event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 20-15-16.

Majhi took the turn at three-under 32 with the help of birdies on the first, third, fourth and sixth against a lone bogey on the second hole. He took his day’s tally to four-under with a birdie on the 12th hole but he dropped shots on the 13th and 17th holes to finish the back nine at one-over 36.

Nepal No 1 pro Shrestha moved to second with the 36-hole total of two-under 138 after he carded second straight one-under 69. Shrestha made flying start with three consecutive birdies before facing a double bogey on the fourth. He carded a birdie on the fifth to take the turn at two-under 33. Shrestha began the back nine with a bogey before carding his fifth birdie of the day on 14th. But he again dropped a shot on the 15th hole to finish the back nine at one-over 36.

Bhuwan Nagarkoti was third at one-under 139 after the Gokarna pro shot even-par 70, while overnight leader Sanjay Lama of Tribhuvan Army Officers Golf Cub faltered to three-over 73 to slip down to fourth at even-par 140. Local pro Bal Bhadra Rai (73) was fifth at one-over 141, while Tham Bahadur Rai and Dhana Thapa, who shot 72s, shared the sixth position at 142 along with Purna Sharma (71).

Nagarkoti played even-par 36 on the front nine that included two birdies on the third and fifth holes against three bogeys on the second, seventh and eighth. On the back nine, Nagarkoti carded three birdies on the 13th, 14th and 18th and suffered bogeys on the 10th and 17 holes. Lama began the day on a horrible note dropping three shots on the par-4 hole and faced seventh and ninth. He carded birdies on the second, fifth and sixth holes to take the turn at three-over 38. Lama dropped shots on the 10th, 11th and 13th holes before sinking an eagle on the par-4 14th and added a birdie on the final hole to finish the back nine at even-par 35. A total of 28 players, including six amateurs, survived the cut that was applied at 14-over.