Kathmandu, April 24

Home Club pro Bhuwan Nagarkoti carded five-under 67 to open up a two-stroke lead over Purna Thapa after the second day of the Surya Nepal NPGA Tour Championship here at the Gokarna Golf Club today.

Nagarkoti, who shared the 13th position in the first round, posted the 36-hole total of four-under 140 in the ninth event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour. On a day when all three joint leaders of the first round faltered, Sharma carded two-under 70 and moved five places up to second with the score of two-under 142. Rame Magar and Surya Prasad Sharma both carded one-under 71 to share the third position at one-under 143.

Nagarkoti, who won the previous event at Royal Nepal Golf Club earlier this month, carded a four-under 32 on the front nine with the help of birdies on the first, third, sixth and seventh holes. After taking the turn, Nagarkoti carded birdies on the 10th and 12th to go six-under for the day before facing the lone bogey of the round on the 14th to finish the back nine at one-under 35.

Sharma, who is here to participate in the last two events of the Tour, carded birdies on the first, third and sixth holes to take the turn at three-under 33. He then shot birdies on the 14th and 16th holes before signing off for the day with a birdie on the final hole. Magar carded a total of six birdies but he failed to keep the scores clean as he went on to face five bogeys, while Surya’s card included three bogeys against four birdies.

Dhana Bahadur Thapa (72) and overnight joint leader Rabi Khadka (74) shared the fifth position at even-par 144, while another co-leader of the first round Ramesh Nagarkoti faltered to 75 and slipped down to share the seventh position with Deepak Acharya, who carded an impressive one-under 71, at one-over 145.

Ram Krishna Shrestha carded two-under 70 to move up to ninth at 146, while Shiva Kumar Majhi (76) slipped down to 10th at 147. Overnight co-leader and defending champion Shivaram Shrestha played a disastrous round of six-over 78 and fell down to joint 11th place at four-over 148 along with his brother Jayaram, who played 73.

The cut was applied at 10-over 154. A total of 22 pros and eight amateurs made it to final two rounds. Bikash Adhikari, Bal Bhadra Rai, Dinesh Prajapati, Ashish Pariyar, Bhu Bahadur Gurung, Deepak Magar, Chuda Bahadur Bhandari, Shivaram Poudel, Krishna Man Rajbahaka and Bikash Bogati are the other pros who survived the cut.

In Amateur section, Tanka Bahadur Karki maintained his lead. He carded one-over 73 for the even-par 144 total. Tashi Tsering, who shot three-over 75, was two strokes off the pace at two-over 146. Subash Tamang (76), Prithvi Malla (74), Sukra Bahadur Tamang, Sunil KC, Binod Tamang and Dhruba Jung Thapa also made the cut.