Uttam Mundy leads in Surya Nepal Masters

Uttam Singh Mundy, the champion in Kathmandu in 1997, staked his claims for the title after shooting a bravura round of five-under 67 on the second day of the Rs 750,000 Surya Nepal Masters, being played at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort.

The bearded pro from Calcutta tallied eight-under 136 after 36 holes and led by two strokes over Vijay Kumar, who roared back into contention with a new course record six-under 66. Nepal’s Deepak Acharya, who submitted his second successive card of two-under 70 was third at four-under 140. Mukesh Kumar and Shiv Prakash, the two stalwarts of Indian Tour, were tied fourth at 142.

Overnight leader Babu Ahmed of Bangladesh plummeted down the leaderboard after a five-over 77 round, while defending champion Rohtas Singh added a level-par 72 to his four-over 76 on Wednesday.

The Surya Nepal Masters, which forms the 11th leg of the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour, is sponsored by Surya Tobacco Company.

The cut was applied at 21-over 165 and 51 pros made it to the money-making round. Accompanying the pros on the final two days will be 12 amateurs, led by India’s No 1 amateur Rahil Gangjee, who essayed a remarkable turnaround with a three-under 69 card on Thursday after his 84 on Wednesday.

Mundy, twice winner of the Honda Siel-Nike PGA Championship, the biggest event on the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour, played as if in a zone. He started with a par on the first hole, but then made a hat-trick of birdies from the second onwards. On the fifth and sixth holes, he three-putted for bogies and recovered to two-under with his fourth birdie on the seventh hole. However, a double bogey on the eighth, where the ball almost hit the flagstick but rolled back into the bunker from where he came out and made his third three-putt of the day, saw him back at even-par after eight holes.

The 35-year-old golfer, who is sponsored by Sahara Airlines, was on fire thereafter as he blitzed the course with birdies on the ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes and then missed another on the 16th by one roll and on the 17th where his four-footer birdie putt kissed the lip of the cup but didn't go in.

"I had three three-putts yesterday and three today. It would have been a different story without them. But I actually putted well today. I was hitting the ball great today and played a solid round considering that I had dropped back to level-par after eight holes," he said after the round.

Vijay Kumar, winner of the Wills Sport Golf Tour Order of Merit for last three seasons, made a giant leap towards his second title of the season with a superb round of 66 which included eight birdies and two bogies – on the eighth and 17th holes.

"I needed 33 putts to complete the round and yet managed a six-under. I reached all the par-5s in two and had eagle chances but failed to convert any. I had planned for a seven-under to come back into contention, but will take a 66 any day," said the 33-year-old golfer from Lucknow.

SCORES (after 36 holes): 136 _ Uttam Singh Mundy (69,67); 138 _ Vijay Kumar (72,66); 140 _ Deepak Acharya (70,70); 142 _ Shiv Prakash (72,70), Mukesh Kumar (69,73); 143 _ Deepak Thapa Magar (74,69), Pappan (71,72); 144 _ Babu Ahmed (67,77); 146 _ Rahul Ganapathy (71,75); 148 _ Sanjay Kumar (70,78), Ramesh Nagarkoti (76,72), Rohtas Singh (76,72), Monish Bindra (75,73), Ajay Gupta (74,74), Amish Jaitha (74,74), Radhey Shyam Thapa (71,77); 149 _ Zai Kipgen (71,78), Ali Sher (73,76).

Amateurs: 153 _ Rahil Gangjee (84,69); 156 _ Mani Rai (79,77); 157 _ Bijesh Shahi (80,77); 161 _ CB Bhandari (80,81)