Rafiq Ali takes TNGF Open lead

Rafiq Ali continued his love story with Madras when he snatched the lead after the second round of the Rs 750,000 Tamil Nadu Golf Federation Open 2000 with a solid display of four-under 68 at the par-72, Cosmopolitan Golf Club course, on Wednesday.

Rafiq, who won the Ford-Madras Gymkhana Club Open in September, was at six-under 138 following his opening round of two-under 70. The Calcuttan was followed by Shiv Prakash, the current Order of Merit leader, who also shot a four-under 68 and was placed second at five-under 139.

Overnight leader Rohtas Singh slipped two places following a one-over 73 round, while Harmeet Kahlon shot his second successive 71 to occupy the fourth place. Sanjay Kumar, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, Vishal Singh and Rajesh Kumar Rawat were a further one stroke behind and tied for fifth place at one-under 143.

The cut was applied at 10-over 154 with 51 pros and six amateurs advancing to the money-making rounds.

Rafiq, who had boldly predicted his victory on the first day of the Ford-MGC Open despite being way off the leader, played the back nine first and started with pars before dropping his only stroke of the day on the 13th hole.

"I was actually playing a little safe till the bogey happened. But that bogey forced me to go for the pins," said Rafiq who made a birdie on the 16th to make the turn at level-par.

Rafiq began his journey back towards the clubhouse with successive birdies on the first and second holes and then dropped a 12-footer birdie putt in to the cup on the fourth. His final birdie came on the seventh, whih gave him the sole possession of the lead.

"I am pretty confident about my game at the moment and just can't wait for tomorrow's round to start," he added.

Shiv Prakash, determined to win the Order of Merit as well as Mahindra Rankings for Player of the Year this season, made a hat-trick of birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes, with the final one coming after he dropped a tricky 15-footer putt.

On the second hole, the Kanpur-based pro had a ten-footer for eagle, but two-putted for a birdie. His only bogey of the day came on the fourth hole, which was made up by a birdie on the sixth.

"The hat-trick of birdies gave me a good start but the bogey on the fourth was disappointing as I was playing well. However, my long and short irons are functioning really well and I will try my best to add another title this week," said Shiv Prakash who has already won two events this season - Wills Northern Open and Tiger Sports Marketing Open where he broke the existing four-day aggregate record with a 25-under.

Rohtas Singh had a bad start with a bogey on his very first hole. He dropped further shots on the 13th and 14th to be three-over at that stage.

"The initial three bogeys really hurt," said Rohtas.

Things looked like changing for the better when he successively birdied the 16th and 17th. However a double bogey on the 18th undid all the good work. Rohtas then went on to birdie the 1st, 2nd and 4th holes before bogeying the 5th to end the day at one-over 73. "My putting was terrible today," said the disappointed veteran.

The Chandigarh-based Kahlon started with a birdie and then made another of the 11th where he sank a superb 30 feet uphill putt. The Arjuna Awardee scored three more birdies in his round (16th, 2nd and 7th) with the one on the second, resulting from a 25 feet putt and four bogeys in all.

"I missed putts not more than three feet long for bogeys on the 4th and 8th," said Kahlon.

Lucknow's Sanjay Kumar, winner of the Servo Masters Golf at Digboi, two weeks ago, posted birdies on the fourth and seventh holes and a bogey on the eighth to enter his back-nine at one-under. On his return journey, three birdies (12th, 14th and 16th) and one dropped shot on the 15th handed him a second round card of three-under 69.

Gurunath leads amateurs: B Gurunath assumed sole lead among the amateurs at eight-over 152 after carding a one-over 73 today. CV Yudhvir was placed second at 154.

SCORES (after 36 holes): 138 _ Rafiq Ali (72,68); 139 _ Shiv Prakash (71,68); 141 _ Rohtas Singh (68,73); 142 _ Harmeet Kahlon (71,71); 143 _ Sanjay Kumar (74,69), Rajesh Rawat (72,71), Vishal Singh (71,72), SSP Chowrasia(69,74); 144 _ Basad Ali(72,72), Mukesh Kumar(72,72), Uttam Singh Mundy(70,74); 145 _ Feroz Ali (74,71), Dinesh Raghuvanshi (72,73), Prakash Kubde(72,73); Amateurs: 152 _ B Gurunath (79,73); 154 _ CV Yudhvir (77,77); 158 _ L Selvadurai(82,76)