SSP Chowrasia played a sizzling round of six-under 66 to snatch a decisive lead at the end of second round in the NGC Open 2003, the 10th leg of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour being played at the Noida Course, on Thursday.
The Kolkata pro with a total of nine-under 135 was leading by four strokes over his nearest rivals Ashok Kumar and overnight leader Gagan Verma.
Defending champion Ashok submitted a card of three-under 69 while IOCL amateur Gagan scored a level par 72 to be tied for the second place.
Rookie Sandeep Syal also returned a card of 69 to be in the sole fourth position.
Vivek Bhandari occupied the sole fifth position after a round of 70.
As many as 53 professionals made it to the money-making rounds after the cut was applied at nine-over 153. Also making the cut were seven amateurs.
SSP Chowrasia who is slowly getting into his groove played an almost flawless golf excepting the bogey on the 16th where he three-putted from the edge of the green. The 25-year-old's round was laced with seven birdies.
After missing some short birdies, the diminutive pro had a late warm-up registering his first birdie on the 14th. Once into his wonted form, Chowrasia did not look back as he made a birdie on the 17th and saved five strokes on the back nine including a hat-trick on the finishing holes to return home as the new leader.
"I was worried about my short game yesterday but it was a good over-all round today," said Chowrasia who chipped-in twice from the edge of the green today.
"My putting has been good," said the Kolkata pro who had 25 putts in the round.
Ashok Kumar made a sedate start missing a couple of birdies and a par on the fifth. With a birdie-bogey-birdie finish on the last three holes of his front nine, the 21-year-old was level par before embarking for his return journey. The bogeys were the result of three-putting while he drained 12-footers on both his birdies.
With a determined approach, the DLF Golf and Country Club ambassador pulled up his socks and made a hat-trick of birdies starting from the 13th. Though his driving was good, his short game was a suspect, for he missed eight greens in regulation.
"I am happy with my game but I do need to work on my irons. It is two days of hard work from now before I think of retaining the title," said Ashok Kumar.
Meanhwhile, Vivek Bhandari had a contrasting round making a solitary birdie and two bogeys. However he quickly made amends when he made an eagle on the par-5 first and consecutive birdies on the seventh and eighth to stay in contention.
Jasjeet cards hole-in-one: It was a dream start for defending champion amongst the amateurs Jasjeet Singh. Beginning from the par-3 10th, the GAIL-lad carded a hole-one-one. The 25-year-old using a 6-iron on the 180-yard hole, pitched 10-feet short and the ball rolled into the hole.
"It is my first hole-in-one and I am thrilled about it," said a jubilant Jasjeet who barely made the pro cut.
Top scores after 36 holes (Pros):
Amateurs: 135_SSP Chowrasia (69,66); 139_Ashok Kumar (70,69); Gagan Verma (amateur) (67,72);140_Sandeep Syal (71,69); 141_Vivek Bhandari (71,70); 143_Roop Singh (73,70), Vijay Kumar (73,70), R Srinivas (72,71), Gaurav Ghei (71,72), Sanjay Kumar (71,72), Dinesh Kumar (70,73).
Other top amateurs: 151_Simarjeet Singh (76,75), Vijay Kumar (76,75), Keshav Misra (75,76), Chirag Kumar (73,78).