![\"Khalin](\"images\/golf\/Khalin-Joshi-PGTI.jpg\")
Ahmedabad: Defending champion Khalin Joshi of Bengaluru raised hopes of retaining his title at the PGTI Ahmedabad Masters presented by Kalhaar Blues & Greens after shooting a top-class seven-under-65 on day two, the week’s best round so far. He thus stormed into a healthy three-stroke lead at the halfway stage as his total moved to 11-under-133.<\/p>\n
Delhi’s Rashid Khan occupied second place at eight-under-136 after his second round of 69.<\/p>\n
Khalin Joshi (68-65), lying overnight tied third, one off the pace, began the day with birdies on the first and second, with the latter witnessing his third chip-in of the week. The 24-year-old’s birdie blitz continued on the seventh, eighth, 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th as he seemed to inch towards his last year’s course record of nine-under-63, which he shot in the final round.<\/p>\n
However, the last four holes saw Joshi make two bogeys thanks to missed opportunities from close range, against a lone birdie. Khalin finally ended with a classy 65.<\/p>\n
Joshi said, “I’ve been doing well with the putter over the last two days. I sank two birdies from 20 to 25 feet today. However, I feel, I need to stroke the ball well on the greens. I’ve enjoyed fantastic starts on both days and that has helped my cause.<\/p>\n
“I like the greens here and the layout of this course also suits my eye as I mostly play the draw from right to left. I landed it quite close on a few occasions today for birdie tap-ins,” said Khalin, who won a PGTI event in Mewat, Haryana, last month.<\/p>\n
“The confidence is high since my last win but I need to improve in a couple of areas in the last two rounds. I’m not very comfortable with the irons going into the flag. I also didn’t close the round well today. If I can address these troubles, I’ll be in with a chance,” Joshi, a three-time winner on the PGTI, added.<\/p>\n
Rashid Khan (67-69), the overnight joint leader, slipped to second place on a day he struck five birdies and two bogeys. Khan, despite struggling with his wedges, made the turn at two-under, he then drained a 25-footer on the fourth and followed that up with another birdie on the next hole to move to a promising four-under for the day.<\/p>\n
Rashid, however, did not finish well, as he found the water on the eighth to drop his second bogey of the day.<\/p>\n
Khan’s playing partner Om Prakash Chouhan (69-68) of Mhow returned an eagle, three birdies and a bogey during his round of 68 to end the day in third at seven-under-137.<\/p>\n
Delhi’s Kapil Kumar fired an incredible eight birdies in his round which were to an extent negated by a bogey and a double-bogey. He carded a 67 to move into fourth at six-under-138.<\/p>\n
Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu (68) was a further shot behind in fifth place.<\/p>\n
Chikkarangappa (67-76) of Bengaluru, the overnight joint leader with Rashid, dropped to 14th place at one-under-143 after a forgettable 76 in round two.<\/p>\n
Ahmedabad-based amateur Varun Parikh (72-75) followed up his opening round effort of 72 with a 75 on day two to take his tally to three-over-147. Parikh, placed tied 28th, was the only amateur and local player to make the cut.<\/p>\n
The cut fell at seven-over-151. Fifty professionals and one amateur made the cut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahmedabad: Defending champion Khalin Joshi of Bengaluru raised hopes of retaining his title at the PGTI Ahmedabad Masters presented by Kalhaar Blues & Greens after shooting a top-class seven-under-65 on day two, the week’s best round so far. He thus stormed into a healthy three-stroke lead at the halfway stage as his total moved to 11-under-133.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12943,466,13712,299,4019,11126,4020],"class_list":["post-28746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-golf-golf","tag-golf-news","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-kalhaar-blues-greens","tag-khalin-joshi","tag-om-prakash-chouhan","tag-pgti-ahmedabad-masters","tag-rashid-khan"],"yoast_head":"\n