Surya Nepal Masters: Shamim Khan fires a 67 for second round lead

Kathmandu, Nepal: Delhi’s Shamim Khan (66-67) followed up his first round of 66 with a solid 67 to be the second round leader at 11-under-133 at the Surya Nepal Masters 2014. Shamim, who was placed third on day one, made six birdies and a bogey on Thursday. Khan, a former champion, fired three consecutive birdies from the first to the third.

Chikkaragappa (69-65) of Bangalore and Panchkula's Angad Cheema (64-70) were placed tied second at 10-under-134.

Shamim made a steady start as he birdied the tough par-5 15th and the par-4 17th to make the turn at two-under. The 36-year-old was then on fire on the back nine where he made a hat-trick of birdies on the first three holes. A bogey on the sixth was nullified by a birdie on the seventh as he finished the day at five-under.

Chikkarangappa’s seven-under-65 was the best score of day two and featured nine birdies and two bogeys. Chikka’s second round effort helped him climb from overnight tied 12th to tied second.

Cheema on the other hand, conceded his overnight lead by slipping one place to tied second. His card included an eagle, three birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey.

R Murthy of Bangalore was in fourth position at eight-under-136 while the Kolkata duo of Shankar Das and Mohammad Sanju were a further shot back in joint fifth.

Sanjay Lama was the highest-placed Nepalese golfer at tied seventh with a six-under-138 total. Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan, Chandigarh golfer Abhijit Singh Chadha and Gaurav Ghei of Delhi share seventh place with Lama.

Defending champion and local favourite Shivaram Shrestha (67-72) came up with an even-par-72 in round two to be placed tied 11th at five-under-139.

As many as 50 professionals and two amateurs made the cut which went at a sharp two-over-146.