Gurugram, Feb 1 (PTI) As many as 10 Indians, including a teenaged prodigy Kartik Singh and star golfer Anirban Lahiri, made the cut at the weather-hit International Series India here on Saturday.
When the halfway mark of 36 holes was reached late in the afternoon on Saturday, Lahiri led ten Indians into the final two rounds at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
Lahiri was the best Indian at T-11, with rounds of 72-71 and Gaganjeet Bhullar (73-73) was placed at T-20th.
However, it was the 15-year-old Singh who made history by becoming the youngest Indian to make the cut on the Asian Tour.
Lahiri, Bhullar, Singh, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Shubhankar Sharma, Yuvraj Sandhu, SSP Chawrasia, Rahil Gangjee, Karandeep Kochhar and Shiv Kapur made the cut.
After the second round, the organisers had to use the shotgun start for the third round. It saw the advantage lie with Joaquin Niemann during the third round of the event.
The Chilean reached seven-under for the tournament after eight holes before darkness brought day three to an end.
Nieman has now been bogey free since the 14th hole in first round. He was bogey free in second and the third round. He has not dropped a shot in the eight holes he has played in the third round.
After 44 holes, Nieman is seven-under and holds a one-shot lead over Japan’s Kazuki Higa.
Higa, who was Tied-fourth at six-under at this very venue two years ago at the Hero Indian Open, and Ollie Schniederjans from the United States, was four-under playing in the same group as Niemann, are one and three shots back respectively.
As the third round began, the Indians slipped down quickly. After eight holes, the best Indians were Lahiri (4-over through 8 in Round 3) and Bhullar (1-over through 8) at 3-over for the tournament and were Tied-22nd.
Thick fog each day has caused numerous delays which resulted in the organisers moving to a shotgun start for rounds three and four in order for the tournament to reach completion on Sunday.
Amateur Kartik Singh makes history ========================= Earlier in the day, Kartik, playing at his home course, carded a one-under-par 71, taking him to a four-over total at the halfway stage and safely inside the cut line which fell at eight over.
Singh, ranked world No.1 in the Under-15 amateur category, credited his familiarity with the course for his strong performance.
“Playing on my home course, I definitely know the course better than the other players. Hopefully I’ll be able to use it the first two rounds. Hopefully I can play good in the last two also,” he said.
“Everything was working quite good. Overall the game was quite good. After 13 holes I was 4 under actually. The last few holes weren’t that great. But I’m still happy that I was able to make the cut, especially playing under par today.” After being 4-under through 13 holes, Singh bogeyed the 14th and double bogeyed the Par-3 16th, both very tough holes. His rounds of 77-71 gave him a 4-over total and he was T-30th, the best Indian after Lahiri and Bhullar at T-20.
In early 2024, Kartik became the youngest player ever to make the cut at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships at the fabled Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
Last year, he was Tied-third at another one of the world’s great courses, the Stadium Course at TPCV Sawgrass. He also scored 1.5 points for the Internationals at the 2024 Junior President’s Cup at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montreal, Canada. PTI Cor ATK
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