Panchkula, Haryana, October 6, 2011: Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka emerged as the round two leader at the Haryana Open 2011 presented by Vatika, HUDA & PGC after he shot a sizzling six under 66 at the Panchkula Golf Club. Perera’s tally for the week stands at 10 under 134 after the second round. Mukesh Kumar of Mhow registered a 70 on day two to be placed second, two strokes behind the leader.
The cut was declared at three over 147. Fifty-two professionals and two amateurs made the cut.Mithun Perera (68-66) climbed from overnight tied second to the top position after firing seven birdies and a bogey on Thursday. Perera, a 10th tee starter, seemed to collect birdies at will on his first nine as he picked up strokes on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th to go four under at the turn. He converted a 15 feet putt for birdie on the 12th and followed that up with a perfect tee shot on the par-3 13th that landed five feet from the flag and led to another birdie.
The 24-year-old from Colombo carried forward the momentum on his second nine with a birdie on the first hole thanks to an excellent drive. The only blemish on his card was the bogey on the fourth. Mithun then went on to produce his best shot of the day on the sixth. He hit his approach shot from about 100 yards to within three feet of the pin on the sixth to pocket yet another birdie. Perera earned his last birdie of the day on the par-5 eighth where he found the green in two shots.
“I played percentage golf today. I hit all fairways and made 15 greens in regulation. The putts also rolled in for me today unlike yesterday. I made 27 putts in all. I attacked the pins whenever I was within a range of 150 yards with my approach shots. I made some decent chip-putts. I’ll now look to repeat this effort over the next two days in order to have a good chance to take a shot at the title,” said Perera, who is currently second on the Aircel Emerging Player of the Year ranking for 2011.
Mukesh Kumar (66-70), the overnight leader, dropped to second place on Thursday after he returned a 70 that featured six birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey. Mukesh thus ended the day at eight under 136 aided by some top-class chipping and putting.
Abhishek Jha of Bangalore is placed third at seven under 137 while the Chandigarh duo of Harmeet Kahlon and Ranjit Singh is in joint fourth along with Patna’s Md Islam at six under 138.
Vikrant Chopra of Delhi, who is currently in tied 19th position at two under 142, made a hole-in-one during his second round of 67 on Thursday. Vikrant aced the fourth hole with his four-iron tee shot that fell a few feet short of the flag and rolled in.