Manav Jaini’s 67 catapults him into lead in round two

Gurgaon: Delhi’s Manav Jaini shot a five-under-67 in round two that catapulted him into the lead at the PGTI Players Championship being played at the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon. Jaini’s total moved to nine-under-135 after his second round effort. Pune’s Moinuddin Malak, Delhi’s Rashid Khan, Ranjit Singh of Chandigarh and Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad are in joint second place with matching totals of six-under-138.

The cut was declared at three-over-147. Fifty-one professionals made the cut.

Manav Jaini (68-67) followed up his first round score of 68 with a bogey-free 67 on day two to take centre-stage. Jaini, who started from the 10th tee, collected his first birdie on the 14th where he two-putted from 45 feet. This was followed by an up and down from the bunker for birdie on the 18th.

The 28-year-old Jaini sank birdies on the first and second as well to make it three birdies in a row. He converted a 15-footer on the first and chipped it to within three feet on the second. Manav, a winner on the PGTI in 2011, landed his seven-iron approach shot within three feet on the eighth to earn his final birdie of the day.

Jaini said, “My iron-play was good today. I hit it extremely close on a few occasions and made some decent chip-putts. I made a brilliant par-save on the 12th where I hit it within 15 feet from 100 yards out and sank the putt. The par-save on the 12th got my round going. I’ve played equally well on the first two days. The only disappointment in round one was that I dropped a couple of bogeys that could’ve easily been avoided.”

Moinuddin Malak (70-68) fired a 68 that featured an eagle, three birdies and a bogey. He was placed tied second at six-under-138. Malak was joined by Rashid Khan (67-71), Ranjit Singh (68-70) and Abhinav Lohan (70-68) in tied second place.

M Dharma of Bangalore, Sri Lanka’s Mithun Perera, Australian Kunal Bhasin and the Kolkata duo of Divyanshu Bajaj and Md Sanju are in joint sixth position at five-under-139.