Abhinav Lohan stays ahead at halfway stage

Abhinav Lohan of the DLF Golf & Country Club followed up his 67 in the opening round with a 70 in round two to stay two shots ahead of the field at the PGTI Players Championship at Noida Golf Course here today.
Lohan's two-day total now stands at seven-under-137. Khalin Joshi of Bangalore and Delhi's Honey Baisoya ended day two in joint second place at five-under-139.
Lohan (67-70), the overnight leader by one shot, began with a birdie on the first after a good up and down. His only bogey on the front-nine came on the third which was followed by a 10-feet birdie conversion on the ninth. The highlight of Lohan's round was the chip-in for birdie on the 14th. The bogey on the 15th was a minor blip as he came back to pick up another birdie on the 17th.

Lohan, yet to win his maiden title, said, "I had a couple of good chip-putts today but the best part of my round was the chip-in on the 14th. I didn't expect a birdie on the 14th as my tee shot was a little off the mark. The best aspect of my game today was my chipping.
"I've been pretty consistent this year with six top-10s. I missed my first cut of the season at the BILT Open last week after making a double-bogey on the closing hole on day two. A good result here would put me back in contention in the Rolex Rankings."

Khalin Joshi (69-70) and Honey Baisoya (68-71) are two shots off the lead in tied second place. Joshi climbed two places from overnight tied fourth after posting a 70 that featured four birdies and two bogeys. Baisoya continued in joint second as a result of his 71 that included three birdies and two bogeys.

Noida's Rahul Bajaj shot a bogey-free six-under-66, the joint best score of the tournament so far, to be placed fourth at four-under-140. Bajaj made birdies on all four par-5s. He also recovered from the rough to make par on the closing 18th.
Randhir Singh Ghotra of Chandigarh also fired a 66 to end round two in tied fifth place at three-under-141. Ghotra, who had seven birdies and a bogey, narrowly missed out on a hole-in-one on the fifth as his tee shot lipped-out.

Kolkata's Mohammad Sanju followed up his first round 68 with a 73 on day two to end the day in tied fifth along with Ghotra.
Defending champion N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka is placed tied 13th at even-par-144.
The cut was declared at six-over-150. Fifty-six professionals and two amateurs made the cut.