Bangkok: Gaganjeet Bhullar's second
successive round of one-under 71 pushed him to tied eighth
place but none of his compatriots could make the halfway cut
in the Asian Tour International golf tournament here on Friday.
With his 36-hole total of two-under 142, Bhullar lie
four shots off the pace but Kolkata pro Rahil Gangjee (148),
rising golfer Himmat Rai (149), veteran Gaurav Ghei (154) and
C Muniyappa (157) crashed out, failing to bring themselves
inside the cut line which was set at 146.
Playing his back nine first, Bhullar birdied the 11th and
17th but the 16th hole bogey left him one-under at the turn.
Thanks to the second hole birdie, Bhullar was two-under after
14 holes before the sixth hole bogey ate into his good work.
Bhullar later said he could have done better but neither
his ball-striking nor his putting was up to the mark.
"My ball striking wasn't all that good today and I also
missed two three-foot putts out there. It could have been
easily four-under for me but there are two more days to go and
I'm feeling confident," Bhullar said.
"The good part is that I'm driving it well and missed
only two fairways out there. I just need to get better with my
putting to move up the leaderboard and I'm quite pleased with
my position after two days. We'll try to move up tomorrow to
give ourselves a chance on Sunday," he said.
Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat (70) shared the halfway
lead with Mars Pucay (69) at six-under 138. Thai amateur
Atiwit Janewattananond became the youngest player, at 14 years
and 71 days, to make the cut on the Asian Tour.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 05, 2010, 19:53