GREATER NOIDA, DEC 26 :Rahil Gangjee (66, 69) is the leader in the clubhouse at the end of day two of the BILT Open 2008. Gangjee had the best overall score of nine under 135 among the 60 players who managed to finish the second round on Friday. Mandeo Singh Pathania (71, 69) totaled four under 140 to be placed second.
Start of play was delayed by three hours and 40 minutes on day two due to fog in the morning. Once the second round got underway at 11 a.m, 21 professionals who had not completed round one on Thursday, also resumed play. The delayed start meant only the first session of round two could be completed on Friday. Fifty eight professionals out of a total of 118 are yet to finish round two.
Kolkata’s Rahil Gangjee, who was placed second after round one, dropped a stroke when he bogeyed the 14 th. He then went on to sink birdies on the 18th, second, fifth and seventh to close the round at three under.
Mandeo Singh Pathania fired six birdies against three bogeys to end up with a 69 on Friday. He is currently second at four under 140. Harendra Gupta, Mohd Siddikur Rahman and C Muniyappa are tied third at three under 141 while Ashok Kumar, Sujjan Singh and Feroz Ali Mollah are a further stroke behind in tied sixth.
Ashok Kumar’s hole-in-one on the par three 14th was one of the highlights of day two. Anirban Lahiri, the first round leader, is still very much in contention as he was three under in the second round after having played 10 holes. His total stands at ten under at the moment. Lahiri sank birdies on the 12th, 15th, 16th and first and dropped a bogey on the 13th in round two.
Jeev Milkha Singh, who completed nine holes from the second round, was also three under for the round with the help of birdies on the first, second, fourth, eighth and a bogey on the sixth. Gaurav Ghei completed seven holes in round two. He fired two birdies to take his overall score to six under.
Shamim Khan also has an overall score of six under. Shamim was one under after eight holes when play was suspended. Jyoti Randhawa ended day two at five under. He made three birdies and two bogeys in his eight holes to be one under for round two. Gaganjeet Bhullar’s total also reads five under. He was one under after having played nine holes in his second round. Shiv Kapur (four under) was even par in round two after completing nine holes.
The second round will resume at 7:20 am on Saturday. The cut will be applied after the completion of round two. The third round will commence thereafter.