Kathmandu, January 11

Jayaram Shrestha carded a bogey-free 63 to surge at the top of the Surya Nepal Challenge here at the Royal Nepal Golf Club today.

The RNGC pro Shrestha posted a total score of seven-under 129 to take one stroke lead over Sanjay Lama, who also carded a 63. Shrestha, who carded five-under 29 on the back nine for a 66 on the first day, shot a 30 today after taking the turn at one-under 33. The elder brother of top pro Shivaram Shrestha, the little-known Jayaram carded five birdies on the fourth, 10th, 13th, 15th and 18th holes.

Lama moved two spots up to second at six-under 130 after the Army Club pro posted a 63. He began the day with two straight birdies and added two more on the fourth and ninth holes to take the turn at one-under 33. On the back nine, Lama earned three more birdies but he was simply undone by a double bogey six on the 11th hole.

Top pro Shivaram Shrestha carded two-under 66 to share the third position with overnight joint leader Bhuwan Nagarkoti (69) at two-under 134. Shrestha took the turn at one-over 35 and carded three-under 31 today, unlike the first round where the RGC golfer faltered to three-over 37 to settle for an even-par 68. Nagarkoti, who shared the lead with Dhana Thapa on the first day with the score of three-under 65, played one-over 35 and even-par 34 on two halves today. Thapa slipped to fifth position with the score of one-over 137 after he faltered to four-over 72.

Rame Magar was sixth at 138 after he shot 69, while three pros — Ram Krishna Shrestha (73), Rabi Khadka (69) and Bikash Adhikari (65) — were tied for seventh at four-over 140. Chuda Bahadur Bhandari (72) completed the top 10. Out of 29 pros, 22 golfers made the cut which was applied at 17-over 153. Deepak Magar, Pradeep Kumar Lama, Pashupati Sharma, Surya Prasad Sharma, Prasanna Upreti, Dipendra Rayamajhi, Prabhat Kumar Rajbahak, Sachin Prasad Bhattarai, Ashish Pariyar, Krishna Man Rajbahak, Shiva Ram Paudel and Bal Bhadra Rai made it to the money-making final two rounds.

In amateur section Mithun Rai moved at the top of the table with the total score of five-over 141 after he carded one-over 69 today. Rai was three strokes ahead of Shiva Kumar Majhi (71) and Santosh Rokka (73). Overnight leader Jiwan Rai (71), Phuntsok N Lama (75) and Rohit Acharya (81) are the other amateur golfers who made the cut.

The second tournament under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2016-17 carries a cash purse of Rs 400,000. Top three pros after the 72 holes will receive Rs 75,000, Rs 46,000 and Rs 31,500 respectively.