Ahlawat, Raj lead Players Championship at halfway stage

Key Highlights-

→ Khalin Joshi, Gaurav Pratap Singh shoot day’s best 64 to lie third and tied fourth respectively

→ Shubhankar Sharma’s 71 places him tied 35th

{Press Release}: Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat and Patna’s Aman Raj emerged halfway leaders at 12-under-132 at the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020 presented by Eagleton – The Golf Resort. While Veer struck a 65, Aman returned a 67, as the duo held a one-stroke lead.

Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi carded the day’s best score of eight-under-64 to lie third at 11-under-133 at the second event of the 2020 TATA Steel PGTI season.

Shubhankar Sharma, the pre-tournament favourite and defending champion followed up his first-round 73 with a steady 71 in round two to occupy tied 35th place at even-par-144.

The cut fell at one-over-145 with 50 professionals advancing to the last two rounds.

Veer Ahlawat (67-65), a 10th tee starter, was rewarded for his accuracy off the tee as he collected five birdies on the back-nine including four on the trot from the 14th to the 17th. He moved to an imposing eight-under for the day with three more birdies between the first and the fifth including a chip-in on the third.

Veer said, “I hit a lot more fairways today as compared to round one so that set up the opportunities for me. My putting was also better than in the first round. I played well for most of the day but had a bad stretch towards the end.

Aman Raj (65-67), the first-round leader, managed to stay on top of the leaderboard for the second day running with a round that featured eight birdies and three bogeys. His round was highlighted by his precise approach shots on the 11th and 13th that landed within a couple of feet of the pin to set up birdies.