Probably SSP Chowrasia does not like to share the lead. He made his intentions clear when he fired a superb eight-under 64 to grab a two-shot lead at the half-way stage of the Rs 10-lakh Hyundai-TNGF Open 2005 at the Cosmo-TNGF Golf Course, in Chennai on Thursday.
Chowrasia's two-round total now stands at 13-under par 131, two better than Vijay Kumar, who brought in the day's second best card of seven-under 65.
Amby Valley PGAI Tour's `Champion Golfer of the Year' for 2004-05 season, Mukesh Kumar also made a move, adding a sizzling 66 to his overnight 68, to be placed in third spot. Chandigarh lad Harinder Gupta also carded a similar score and moved into the fourth spot at 135 while veteran Shiv Prakash along with the Khan siblings -- Pappan and Shamim posted a second successive score of four-under par 68 to be tied for the fifth spot.
Exactly 60 professionals made it to the money-making rounds after the cut was applied at six-over 150. Young Raghav Wahi, making his debut, missed the cut by two strokes while local lad Sandeep Syal shot a level-par second round to be at two-under 142 and was tied for the 18th place.
Top scores (After 36 holes) Pros: 131 SSP Chowrasia (Kol) (67, 64); 133 Vijay Kumar (Lucknow) (68, 65); 134 Mukesh Kumar (Mhow) (68, 66); 135 Harinder Gupta (Chd) (69, 66); 136 Pappan (Del) (68, 68), Shamim Khan (Del) 68, 68), Shiv Prakash (Kanpur) (68, 68); 137 Vishal Singh (Jaipur) (67, 70); 139 Jaiveer Virk (Del) (70, 69), Amardip Malik (Chd) (69, 70), Mohd. Maqbool (Del) (69, 70), Sachin Nigade (Pune) (69, 70); 140 Binod Pandey (Kol) (71, 69), Yusuf Ali (Kol) (69, 71). Amateurs: 158 Karun Alaganan (Chen) (80, 78); 159 N Nandakumar (80, 79).
