Kochhar maintains lead, host Jeev misses cut at own tournament

Karandeep posted a five-under-67 to continue at the top of the leaderboard for the second day in succession but host and iconic Indian golfer Jeev Milha Singh missed the cut at the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational, here on Friday.

Sri Lankan Mithun Perera impressed with a classy seven-under-65 to throw his hat in the ring and join Kochhar in the halfway lead at 12-under-132 at the Chandigarh Golf Club.

The current PGTI Order of Merit leader Rashid Khan of Delhi matched the course record with a scorching eight-under-64 to also rise into contention.

He was bunched in tied third at a total of nine-under-135 along with Chandigarh's Ajeetesh Sandhu (69), Sri Lankan N Thangaraja (68), Delhi's Himmat Singh Rai (69) and Om Prakash Chouhan (69) of Mhow.

The cut came down at even-par-144. Fifty professionals made it to the weekend rounds.

Jeev missed the cut as he followed up his first round 72 with a 77 on day two to total five-over-149.

Pukhraj Singh Gill of Ludhiana made a hole-in-one on the eighth. However, Pukhraj who shot a 79 on Friday missed the cut. Gill's was the third hole-in-one of the tournament following N Thangaraja and Martendeya Kanishka Sinha's aces on day one.

Kochhar, the round one leader, continued his fine form with a bogey-free 67. He too has conceded just one shot so far this week. Kochhar had a slow start making just one birdie on the front-nine.

He then drained four more on the back-nine thanks to his consistent putting from six to seven feet.

"I was just very confident within a radius of six to seven feet on the greens. I made a couple of clutch par putts on the fourth and seventh that kept my round going. I drove the ball better and hit better tee shots today as compared to round one even though I returned a higher score," Karandeep said.

Indian star Jyoti Randhawa fired a second straight 70 to be tied 14th at four-under-140.

Reigning champion Chikkarangappa of Bengaluru jumped 33 spots to tied 22nd at three-under-141 after his round of 68.