The Scotsman’s score now stands at 10-under 132 with the day’s score of five-under 66, the same as his first round score.
By afternoon, Richie Ramsay was all smiles and obviously feeling pretty good about himself. The job he had done on Friday in the Indian Open ensured him the sole lead after two rounds at the Karnataka Golf Association course here. The Scotsman’s score now stands at 10-under 132 with the day’s score of five-under 66, the same as his first round score.
Thai players Panuphol Pittayarat and Chapchai Nirat and Finland’s Jaakko Makitalo were tied for the second spot with seven-under 135. All three fired identical scores of three-under 68s. In sole fifth place is Philippines’ Angelo Que with a six-under 136.
James Morrison (five-under 137), the joint leader with Ramsay after the first round, dropped and was tied for the sixth spot with India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar and Thai players Thaworn Wiratchant and Kwanchai Tannin. Bhullar fired a 69 on Friday. Shiv Kapur (four-under 138) was tied for 10th spot with six others.
The cut was applied at three-over 145 and defending champion David Gleeson of Australia just made it, while Bangalore’s C Muniyappa, who ended up with a 10-over 152, missed it. A total of 81 players have made it for the action on Saturday and Sunday. The other prominent Indians missing the cut were Gaurav Ghei, Abhishek Jha, Ali Sher and Feroz Ali.
Starting on the back nine, it was a pretty normal start for Ramsay and only the 11th hole was a birdie, while the rest of the holes were pars. On the front nine, Ramsay birdied on the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes to finish his day’s round. The seventh hole birdie was an impressive one that saw Ramsay put in a 25-foot downhill putt.
“It was a really nice way to finish. I stayed patient out there and it was still not easy if you hit it in the rough,” Ramsay said later. “The key again was to find the fairways and give myself good angles at the pins. I felt that if I could sink some of my putts I could have gone really low out there.”
While it was pretty sunny when Ramsay was done for the day, it began to pour a little while later and late in the evening too. “I can only see, depending on the weather, if the course stays firm, it will only get harder. The fairways will be smaller and it will be harder to access the pins,” he added.
Bangalore’s Anirban Lahiri shot an even par 71 to take his two-day total to one-under 141. The day’s best was from Thailand’s Chinnarat Padungsil with a seven-under 65.
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