KATHMANDU; Amateur golfer Rupak Acharya opened up a five-stroke lead over over pro Rabi Khadka and Deepak Neupane after the second round of the Surya Nepal Central Open here at the Gokarna Golf Club today.

Top amateur Rupak carded even-par 72 on the second day for a

total of two-under 142. Rabi retained the second position after a round of four-over 76 but he was joined by Pokhara pro Deepak, who carded two-over 74, at 147. Another amateur Sumandra Giri was fourth overall and second among amateurs with a card of 148 after the local club player shot one-over 73 to add to his overnight score of 75.

Three players — Mani Rai of Dharan, Yelamber Adhikari and CB Bhandari — shared the fifth position at 150. While Mani carded 77 and Yelamber shot 76, Bhandari produced the best card of the day — one-under 71. Sanjay Lama was eighth at 151, whereas three others — pros Rajan Thapa and Deepak Acharya along with amateur Ramesh Adhiakri — were joint ninth at 153. Rajan carded 79 to add to his first round score of 74, while Deepak carded 75 and Ramesh shot 77.

Rupak, who began the day with one-stroke lead over Rabi, finished the front nine at one-over 37 that included a birdie on the sixth hole and a double bogey on the ninth. On the back nine, he carded four birdies against a bogey and a double bogey. He began the latter half with a birdie but dropped a shot the very next hole. He fired back-to-back birdies on the 12 and 13th before the par-4 17th saw the golfer drop two shots. However, Rupak managed a birdie on the last hole to complete the second round at even-par 72.

Apart from a double bogey

on the second hole, Rabi played

a composed round saving

pars on the rest of the holes to take a turn at two-over 38. On the back nine, Rabi carded a birdie on the 12th but ran out of luck dropping shots on the next three holes.

Other pros who made the cut were Jaya Ram Shrestha, Dhana Thapa, Ram Thapa, Pashupati Sharma, Surya Sharma, Sachin Bhattarai, Ramesh Nagarkoti, Tham Bahadur Rai, Krishna Hari Mizar, Radhe Shyam Thapa and Raj Pradhan. Pros Ram Krishna Shrestha, Krishna Man Rajbahak and Uttam KC failed to make the cut in the 23-man field where 21-over-par scores survived for the final two rounds of the sixth event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2009-10 organised by Nepal Professional Golfers Association. Out of the total cash prize of Rs 350,000, the top three winners will receive Rs 72,000, Rs 46,000 and Rs 36,000 respectively. In amateur section, Bikash Bogati — who shot 78 on the second day to add to his first-round score of 80 — came in the top four to join Rupak, Samundra and Ramesh for the remaining two rounds.