Ranjit displaces leader Pappan

The Hindu Open, the inaugural event of the 2001-02 season of the Hero Honda Golf Tour witnessed yet another day go by with the big guns kept at bay as Chandigarh's Ranjit Singh returned a second-round score of four-under 68 to displace overnight leader Pappan atop the leader-board on Thursday.

Ranjit now aggregates seven-under 137, one stroke better than Pappan’s tally of 138.

Patna’s Mohd. Islam and Calcutta's Yusuf Ali were tied at third place at four-under 140, while talented Delhi golfer Vinod Kumar occupied the sole fifth spot at 141.

Mhow’s Mukesh Kumar was a shadow of the golfer he was on Wednesday, returning a two-over 74 to slip to a tie at sixth spot (142) with arch rival Lucknow’s Vijay Kumar. Vijay carded a two-under 70. Among the rookies, Sheeraz Kalra was tied eighth at 143 while Rahil Gangjee the other rookie was tied 30th. Overnight second-placed Bunty Randhawa was tied eighth at 143.

The cut was applied at seven-over 151 with 52 pros and five amateurs making it to the deciding rounds.

Ranjit Singh is probably one of the fastest learners on the Tour. A vastly improved golfer from what he was not two seasons ago, Ranjit once again gave everybody a glimpse of his abilities with Thursday's display. A first tee starter, Ranjit’s round contained but one blemish in the form of a bogey on the 12th.

"The ball got plugged in the bunker," said the Chandigarh based golfer.

Starting and ending his round with birdies, Ranjit’s other birdies came on the 2nd, 6th and 15th holes.

"I cannot forget how I led the field on each of the first three days at the ONGC-NGC Open last season only to slip to a third place finish on day four. This time, I hope I can go back with the Hindu Open trophy under my belt," said the golfer, who attributed his low score to the excellent conditions of the greens.

"I want to be the first golfer to win an event on the Hero Honda Golf Tour," he added.

First round leader Pappan was a victim of lipped-out putts. In fact a lipped-out 3 ½ feet putt on the 18th, the final hole of his round, told the story of his day’s play.

"I would have been in the joint-lead had that putt dropped," said the golfer, whose other lipped-out putts occurred on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 17th holes all not more than six feet efforts.

"I was pretty confident at the start of the day’s play. The birdie on the second got the adrenaline flowing but I would attribute not returning a better score to bad luck," said the dejected Delhi golfer.

Pappan’s other birdie came on the 16th, while he dropped shots on the third and 18th.

"No excuses. I must try to regain the lead tomorrow," concluded the golfer who played to level-par 72.

Mohd. Islam returned his second successive round of two-under 70, which included birdies on the 10th, (his starting hole), 11th and 14th and a lone bogey on the 4th.

"I putted badly today," said the golfer who tallied 31 putts in his second round card. "There are just three strokes separating the top four players and I personally feel anybody can win this event," he stated, adding that he however needed to work on his putting to stand a chance.

Yusuf Ali had a decent front-nine posting consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th. However, bogeys on the 5th and 6th on his return journey and the third birdie of his round on the 6th, handed him a day’s score of one-under 71.

"It is going to be a tight game," said Yusuf, echoing Islam’s sentiments.

Ali Sher, holder of the course record at Madras, courtesy opening round score of eight-under in 1997 and 1999, was the other golfer to card a four-under 68 on Thursday.

"I have been out of touch having spent most of the summer coaching kids at the JTB camp in Delhi Golf Club. Shooting a 68 despite this, without doubt makes me happy," said the twice-Indian Open winner.

Gurunath wrests lead from Yudhvir: Gurunath Maiyappan played to level-par 72 to wrest the lead from CV Yuduvir. Meiyappan tallies two-over 146 for the event while Yudhvir aggregates 151.

SCORES (after 36 holes): 137_Ranjit Singh(69,68); 138_Pappan(66,72); 140_Mohd. Islam(70,70), Yusuf Ali(69,71); 141_Vinod Kumar (D) (71,70); 142_Vijay Kumar(72,70), Mukesh Kumar(68,74); 143_Bhoop Singh(72,71), Rohtas Singh(72,71), Sheeraz Kalra(72,71), Randhir Ghotra(71,72), Bunty Randhawa(68,75) Amateurs: 146_Gurunath Meiyappan(74,72); 151_CV Yudhvir(73,78)