Cheema second in U-21, seventh overall at Faldo series

Mission Hills (China): Angad Cheema carded an eventful 71 which included five birdies and four bogeys in the second round to move into the tied seventh overall at the end of the second day of the Faldo Series Asia Grand final at the Mission Hills golf course here on Thursday.

Cheema, the recently crowned champion at the IGU-sanctioned All India Matchplay championships, is second in the Under-21 category but seventh overall as the field was led by an prodigious Japanese Kohei Kinoshita of Japan, who shot a brilliant 66 to take a three shot lead into the third and final round. Cheema was tied second at 146 with English lad Gavin Samuels (73-73) in Under-21 section, while Indonesian Cahyo Adhitomo (71-71) was the leader. Overall leader Kinoshita has rounds of 70 and 66. Overnight leader Masamichi Ito, also in Under-16 category like Kinoshita, was second (68-71) overall also. Among the other Indians, Ankur Chadha (84-76) was lying 35th and Vasishta Pawar (81-88) was tied 51st. Among the girls, Aditi Ashok (84-80) was overall 66th and Gursimar Badwal (89-93) was further behind in 72nd place. Cheema opened with a birdie and had another on the third, before running into a bogey on fourth. A third birdie followed on sixth, only to be hit by a bogey on seventh. He turned in one-under 35 and then had birdies on 10th and 18th and bogeys on 14th and 17th in between. No sooner had Kinoshita and Ito finished their round, they attended a clinic with Sir Nick Faldo being held for the competitors. Eighty golfers from 17 countries have joined Sir Nick Faldo at Mission Hills in Shenzhen for the sixth Asia Grand Final. The tournament`s largest-ever field is competing over three rounds for the title of Faldo Series Asia Champion, awarded to the player with the lowest gross score, regardless of age or gender. PTI