Jeev well-placed in Dubai Classic

India's Jeev Milkha Singh vaulted himself into contention in the 1.59 million euro Dubai Desert Classic, being played at the Emirates Golf Club course on Friday, when he submitted his second successive bogey-free card.

Jeev, who is sponsored by India.com and Hero Honda Motors, shot a six-under 66 on day two and was the sole occupant of the third place on the leaderboard at 11-under 133.

Jeev had shot a five-under 67 in the first round which finished today morning after play was suspended on Thursday following fog and bad light.

However, Jeev will have his task cut out over the weekend as leading the tournament at 16-under 128 is none other than world No 1 Tiger Woods, who is searching for his first success of the new season. Woods shot his second consecutive eight-under 64 to enjoy a two-stroke lead over Thomas Bjorn of Denmark. Bjorn added a 66 to his 64 on Thursday.

According to information from Dubai, Jeev, who finished tied for the 26th place last week in the Caltex Singapore Masters, returned to the course early in the morning to finish four holes and promptly birdied the seventh and eighth (his 16th and 17th holes) to finish with a five-under 67 first round. He had to return to the course within a couple of hours for the second round.

The cut was applied at three-under 141 and the second Indian in the field, Jyoti Randhawa, made his exit after missing it by one stroke. Randhawa tallied one-under 71 on each days.

The achievement by the Indian ace is even more noteworthy as he is way above the world No 4 Lee Westwood of England (tied 10th at eight-under) and world No 7 Colin Montgomerie of Scotland (tied 38th at five-under 139).

Starting from the first tee, the 29-year-old began with a birdie on the par-4 first hole, and was three-under at the turn with further birdies on the fifth and eighth. On the back nine, he picked up strokes on the 11th, 14th and 17th holes to submit a six-under 66 card.

"I am delighted about my performance in the first two rounds and excited about the prospects of locking horns with Tiger Woods over the next two days. It has been several months since I had last been in contention. I have been playing well lately, but I had not been able to put together a decent score,"said the Chandigarh-based pro over phone from Dubai.

Jeev, who had finished second on the European Tour in 1999 South African Open, is playing on a medical exemption this season after missing most of last year because of a niggling wrist injury. "This is what I was dreaming of during those frustrating days of injury," he said.

Jeev was specially happy about his putting. "I haven’t been driving that accurately off the tee, but my putting has helped me over the first two days," he said.

"Last year, I went out of the Tour completely in this very tournament. Hence it is all the more satisfying to do well here. I passed six months doing almost nothing. I just flipped channels and got very good at watching television," he added.

SCORES (after 36 holes): 128 _ Tiger Woods (USA) 64,64; 130 _ Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 64,66; 133 _ Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 67,66; 134 _ Brian Davis (ENG ) 69,65, Paul McGinley (IRL) 70,64; 135 _ Bradley Dredge (WAL) 70,65, Eamonn Darcy (IRL) 68,67, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 66,69, John Bickerton (ENG) 68,67; 136 _ Angel Cabrera (ARG) 66,70, Lee Westwood (ENG) 66,70, Jean-Francois Remsey (FRA) 68,68, Gary Evans (ENG) 70,66, Mathias Gronberg (SWE) 68,68, Anders Hansen (DEN) 70,66