Jeev Milkha Singh and defending champion Arjun Atwal made it a proud day for Indian golf when they tied for the second place at the halfway stage of the $-900,000 Caltex Singapore Masters, presented by Carlsberg, on Friday.
According to reports from the Masters course of Laguna National, the Indian duo were just a stroke behind star attraction and world No 2 Ernie Els, who led the quality field at eight-under 136 after posting a five-under 67 today.
Jeev, Atwal and Simon Yates of Scotland were tied for the second place at seven-under 137. As an icing on the cake, Asia's No 1 golfer, India's Jyoti Randhawa, also jumped into contention. He was tied for the sixth place at five-under 139.
The weather delay on the opening day had caused a spillover of the first round to this morning. The second round started late and could not be completed, with 21 players still on the course when play was called off because of darkness. However, none of the 21 were in any position to disturb the top of the leaderboard.
Among the other Indians in the fray, Amadeep Johl was on the bubble, tied for the 69th place at 1-over 145. Arjun Singh and Harmeet Kahlon were way beyond, tied for the 133rd and 117th place respectively. Johl looked like cruising after making an eagle on the 15th hole, but a bogey on the 16th and a double bogey on the 17th put him in precarious position.
Atwal, playing along with Ernie Els, was in dazzling form and after starting from the 10th hole, made five birdies before making the turn. However, bogies on the 10th and 16th saw him at three-under after nine. On the back nine, the Kolkata pro made a birdie on the third and lost a good opportunity to take sole possession of the lead with bogies on the sixth and eighth holes.
Atwal's round drew praise from the 'Big Easy' Els. "He is playing wonderfully well and is a very good player," said Els. "He putts well and has been especially impressive with his irons. I think he will be a huge factor this weekend," said the South African who rammed in one eagle, four birdies and a solitary bogey on the sixth hole for a round of five-under 67.
The Hero Honda-sponsored Jeev started his round with a bogey on the 10th hole. He made the turn level-par for the day with another bogey on the 12th and birdies on the 11th and 15th. On the back nine, the 32-year-old caught fire and made a hat-trick of birdies from the second onwards to take sole possession of the lead at nine-under. However, the Chandigarh pro missed the green on the par-3 fifth under fading light and had to settle for a double bogey. He finished the day at one-under 71.
"I was rushing the last few holes trying to finish but it is okay I am in a good position. I am happy. I have taken a break for a month and I have come straight back and played well. I still need a lot of improvement particularly with my driving. I basically need more confidence but it is going to get a lot better," said Jeev after the round.
Randhawa holed a spectacular second shot on the par-4 third for an eagle and looked like mounting a serious charge with another birdie on the sixth. However, he dropped strokes on the ninth and tenth holes to fall back.
Birdies on the 15th and 16th holes saw him finish the day at three-under 69.
Top scores (after 36 holes): 136 _ Ernie Els (69,67); 137 _ Arjun Atwal (67,69), Jeev Milkha Singh (66,71), Simon Yates (68,69); 138 _ Gary Murphy (70,68); 139 _ Jyoti Randhawa (70,69), Lam Chih-bing (69,70), Thammanoon Srirot (70,69), Zhang Liang-wei (68,71).
