Khalin Joshi, Honey Baisoya share halfway lead at J&K Open

Bengaluru’s Khalin H Joshi and Honey Baisoya of Delhi Joshi moved into the joint halfway lead after Friday’s second round of J&K Open.

Khalin played a five-under 67 in the second round to climb to the top of the leaderboard.

Honey Baisoya, on the other hand, recorded a 69 to move to eight-under and share the lead.

Udayan Mane, the overnight leader, shot an even-par in his second-day campaign. While, Shravan Desai added a 4-under to reach 7-under after the end of day two game.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, who shot an even-par 72 on the first day, carded a round-of-the-day 65 at the Royal Springs Golf Course to join Udayan Mane and Shravan Desai on seven under at the tied-3rd position.

The 29-year-old Khalin, who had a top-20 the last time he played in Srinagar in 2014, said, “I’ve been striking it well but my putting wasn’t up there before this match. But I made some crucial putts today especially for par on the fourth and sixth.

Honey Baisoya, a six-time winner on the PGTI, “I was struggling with my putting prior to this event and I missed the cut in the last two events. So I changed my putter this week which seems to have made all the difference here in Srinagar as my putting has been the best part of my game on the first two days.

Mani Ram (65) also shot the lowest score of the day, like Yuvraj. He ended the day in tied sixth at six-under 138 along with Kshitij Naveed Kaul (68), Veer Ahlawat (71), and Dhruv Sheoran (66).

Ahmedabad’s Anshul Patel made a hole-in-one on the second during his round of 67. He occupied tied 17th place at three-under 141.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar (69) of Chandigarh and Indian golf legend Jyoti Randhawa (72) were both in tied 31st place at even-par 144.

Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa (73), the last winner at Royal Springs Golf Course, was in tied 48th at two-over 146.