Kathmandu, March 2
Top Nepali pro Sukra Bahadur Rai bounced back in the second round and survived the cut in the Gujarat Open Golf Championship at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens Golf Club in Ahemdabad today.
Rai carded three-under 69 in the second round for the 36- hole total of two-over 146 and moved 49 places up in the leaderboard of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) event which carries a cash purse of INR 10 million. Rai - who played a disastrous five-over 77 in the first round - recovered to share the 33rd position with eight golfers and made the cut for the money-making final two rounds.
The Dharan-based Nepal No 1 pro, Rai played even-par 36 on the front nine and bounced back to three-under 33 after taking the turn. He carded a total of six birdies in the second round in a much-improved performance than the first day when he hit just one birdie. Rai began the day with a birdie and saved pars on the next five holes. He then made a bogey-birdie-bogey finish on the last three holes of the front nine.
After taking the turn, Rai dropped a shot on the 10th hole bur bounced back strongly carding three consecutive birdies from the 11th and added another on the 15th to take a huge stride in the leaderboard. He is tied on two-over 146 with six Indian pros Ravi Kumar, Samarth Dwivedi, Varun Parikh, Divyanshu Bajaj, Akshay Sharma and Khokan Molla, Sri Lanka's Mithun Perera and Japan's Makoto Iwasaki.
Aman Raj extended his lead to three stroke after he carded four-under 68 for the total score of 10-under 134, while fellow Indian pro and overnight joint leader Anshul Patel dropped to second place at seven-under 137 after he played one-under 71. Arjun Sharma was further one stroke adrift at third, while seven Indian pros shared the fourth place at four-under 140.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 3, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
