Kathmandu, October 10

Nepal No 1 pro Shivaram Shrestha carded second straight five-under 63 to claim the lead after the second round of the Ghanashyam’s Professional Golden Jubilee Golf Championship here at the Royal Nepal Golf Club today.

Shrestha posted a 36-hole total score of 10-under 126 to open up a three-stroke lead over his elder brother and fellow RNGC pro Jayaram Shrestha in the first event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2017-18. Jayaram carded one-under 66 to remain at the second position, while overnight leader Bhuvan Nagarkoti of Gokarna Golf Club faltered to two-over 70 and fell down to third position at five-under 131 — five strokes off the pace.

Shivaram, who started the day two shots behind Nagarkoti, carded a bogey-free five-under 29 on the front nine and played even-par 34 on the latter half. After saving pars on the first two holes, Shivaram carded three consecutive birdies from second hole and had another two on the seventh and eighth before taking the turn. On the back nine, Shrestha did card birdies on the 13th and 16th holes, but he was undone by bogeys on the 12th and 15th.

Jayaram had a birdie on the fourth and a bogey on the ninth as he took the turn at even-par 34. He then carded birdies on the 10th and 13th holes to finish the back nine at two-under 32. First-round leader Nagarkoti made a disastrous start with two straight bogeys. He bounced back with two consecutive birdies but against dropped shots on the fifth and sixth as he took the turn at two-over 36. He then played an even-par 34 on the back nine that included bogeys on the 12th and 15th holes against birdies on the 10th and 14th.

Army Club pro Sanjay Lama (68) and RNGC’s Surya Prasad Sharma (65) were joint fourth at two-under 134, while Rame Magar carded one-under 67 for fifth at 135. Dinesh Prajapati (67), Deepak Magar (68), Bhuwan Kumar Rokka (68) and Krishna Man Rajbahak (70) are the other pros in top 10.

The cut fell at 12-over 148 with 23 pros making it to the money-making final two rounds.

In amateur section, top woman golfer Pratima Sherpa carded impressive three-under 65 and moved to the top of the table with the total score of seven-over 143. Mithun Rai maintained his position at second and is one shot behind after he played two-over 70. Subash Ghising, overnight leader Bipin Tamang, Phuntsok N Lama and Prithvi Malla also made the cut for the final two rounds.

The event is sponsored by Nepal’s first professional golfer Ghana Shyam Thapa to mark his 50 years in professional golf. Out of the total cash purse of Rs 500,000, top three pros will receive Rs 85,000, Rs 58,000 and Rs 45,000 respectively.

After the completion of the main event, a separate amateur tournament will be held on October 13-14. Around 100 social golfers are expected to take part in the event.