Keita Nakajima.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
Defending champion Keita Nakajima handled a tricky climax competently to emerge the joint leader with Eugenio Chacarra with four-under 140 at the end of two rounds in the $2.25 million Hero Indian Open golf championship at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Friday.
After having been two-over in the opening round, the 24-year-old Nakajima roared into contention in the morning with seven birdies in the first nine holes. He looked strong to stay ahead of Chacarra, who had himself done phenomenally well to score two-under 70 on both days despite a double bogey on the tricky 17th in the second round.
However, Nakajima fell into the bunker on the 18th, and almost slipped into water while trying to get out of it. He handled both situations very well, but missed a short putt that robbed him of the lead. The agonising stop close to the lip of the pin was an experience that many players experienced on the day, especially on the sun-baked greens in the afternoon.
“It is a tough course, but it is fun. I love this course. Am excited about the week-end. The key is to stay patient,” said Nakajima.
“One bad swing hits you hard. I am happy with the result, but obviously, it is only Friday. Really excited and hopeful of a good weekend,” said the 25-year-old Chacarra.
The overnight leaders Marcus Kinhult of Sweden, Marcus Armitage of England and Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium who had shot four-under 68, experienced the fortunes swinging the other way, on a less windy day.
Kinhult shot three-over 75 for the joint eighth spot. Armitage had a six-over 78 for the joint 26th spot. Colsaerts had a 10-over 82, and just about made the cut that was applied at six-over 150, with 68 players making it to the third round.
Out of the 30 Indians, 12 made the cut, with Gaganjeet Bhullar being the best with a one-over 145 for the joint 20th spot.
Aman Raj, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Shiv Kapur (146), Veer Ahlawat, Kshitij Kaul (147), Om Prakash Chouhan, Sachin Baisoya, Jairaj Sandhu (148), Saptak Talwar, Shubhankar Sharma (149) and Shaurya Bhattacharya (150) were the other Indians to make the cut.
Two-time champion S.S.P. Chawrasia shot eight-over 80 and wound up with 152 for the joint 80th spot.
Leading scores: 1. Keita Nakajima (Jpn) (74, 66), Eugenio Chacarra (Jpn) (70, 70) 140; 3T. Joost Luiten (Ned) (69, 73), Andrea Pavan (Ita) (73, 69), Matthew Jordan (Eng) (69, 73), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) (71, 71), Jens Dantorp (Swe) (71, 71) 142; 8T. Angel Ayora (Esp) (70, 73), Tom Vaillant (Fra) (71, 72), Marcus Kinhult (Swe) (68, 75), Brandon Stone (RSA) (70, 73), Jack Senior (Eng) (72, 71), Ewen Ferguson (Sco) (72, 71), Todd Clements (Eng) (69, 74) 143.
Published – March 28, 2025 07:41 pm IST