Kathmandu, November 28

Bhuwan Nagarkoti extended his lead to six strokes after the second round of the Surya Nepal Challenge here at the par-68 Royal Nepal Golf Club today.

The Gokarna Golf Club pro carded four-under 68 to add to his overnight score of five-under 63 and posted the half way total of nine-under 127 to remain six strokes ahead of veteran RNGC pro Deepak Magar.

Nagarkoti took the turn at three-under 31. He made a blistering start carding birdies on the first two holes before adding two more on the fifth and sixth. His lone bogey of the day came on the seventh hole. After taking the turn, Nagarkoti carded a birdie on the 10th and saved pars on other eight holes to play one-under 33 on the back nine.

Magar carded two-under 66 for the total score of three-under 133. He took the turn at four-under 30 before faltering to two-over 36 on the back nine. On the bogey-free front nine, Magar carded birdies on the first, second, fourth and fifth holes. Magar began the back nine with a bogey and faced two more on the 14th and 18th holes. In between  he had a birdie 17th hole.

Another RNGC pro Surya Prasad Sharma carded two-under 66 to climb to third at one-under 136, followed by former Nepal No 1 Rabi Khadka was fourth at even-par 136 after he carded one-under 67.

Yelamber Singh Adhikari (70) and Bhuwan Kumar Rokka (66) shared the fifth position at one-over 137, while Ramesh Nagarkoti (68) was seventh at 138. Dhana Bahadur Thapa (72) and Jayaram Shrestha (67) were tied for eighth at 139, while Suman Rai (69) was 10th at 143.

Top pro and the winner of the first two events of the season, Shivaram Shrestha faltered for the second day in a row carding four-over 72 and was at 11th position with the total score of seven-over 143. The cut was applied at 14-over 150 with Kamal Tamang, Chuda Bahadur Bhandari, Sanjay Lama, Sanjeev Bahadur Nepali, Bikash Adhikari, Rajendra Shrestha Pradhan, Sachin Prasad Bhattarai, Ram Krishna Shrestha and Krishna Man Rajbahak making it to the money-making final two rounds.

In amateur section, Tanka Bahadur Karki climbed to the top after the national team member carded one-under 67 for the 36-hole total of three-over 139. Overnight leader Phuntsok Norbu Lama slipped to second at 143 after he shot five-over 73. Subash Ghising (71) was third at 145, while Mithun Rai, Dhruba Thapa and Bharat Bastakoti were the other amateurs who made the cut.

In all, 40 players — 30 pros and 10 amateurs — are taking part in the third event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2017-18, organised by Nepal PGA. The event carries a total cash purse of Rs 420,000 and the top three pros will receive Rs 80,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively.