Sanjay, Shankar in joint lead

New Delhi: Lucknow`s Sanjay Kumar and Shankar Das of Kolkata shared the lead after the second round

of the LG Masters golf tournament here on Thursday. Sanjay continued his good run carding a 71 today, while Shankar posted a 70 to lie tied at the top with identical scores of seven-under 137. Shamim Khan`s brilliant 65 was the best round of the day and helped him climb to tied third along with Chiragh Kumar at six-under 138. Sanjay Kumar started well, hitting his third shot within three feet on the first to earn his first birdie of the day. He pocketed his second birdie on the sixth where he came up with a superb approach shot that stopped a foot and a half short of the pin. A couple of missed chip-putts resulted in bogeys on the seventh and 16th but Sanjay managed to pull a stroke back with a 10 feet birdie putt on the 17th. "My putter was cold today. I hit a lot of regulations but did not convert the putts. I have started well in a number of tournaments but my putting has often let me down in the third and fourth rounds. I want to reverse that trend this time around," said Sanjay. Shankar Das kept his title hopes alive with a two-under 70 in round two. Shankar, a title winner on the Aircel PGTI in 2010, had a brilliant start to the day as he made a 15 feet birdie putt on the first. He then made pars all the way till the 16th before registering his second and last birdie of the day on the 17th. "My iron-play was good today and I also made some very good par saves on the fourth and the ninth. I will certainly be in contention if my putting form picks up over the last two days," Shankar said. Shamim Khan made an amazing nine birdies against two bogeys in round two to post his best single round score at the Delhi Golf Club which also happens to be his home course. Shamim, who was in tremendous form with the putter, made four straight birdies on two occasions, first from the fifth through the eighth and then from the 14th through the 17th. "This is one of my best scores of the PGTI so far. I made as few as 22 putts today and that was the key to my low score. My best birdie came on the 17th where I converted a 25 feet putt. I hit it within five to six feet on most of the other holes," said Shamim, who is currently placed fifth on the Rolex Rankings. Chiragh Kumar of the DGC joined Shamim in tied third as he carded a second successive 69. Digvijay Singh and Manav Jaini are tied fifth at four under 140, while Gaganjeet Bhullar and Ashok Kumar are tied eighth at even par 144. PTI