Salzburg (Austria), May 31 (IANS) Veer Ahlawat played a steady round on the second day, to follow up on his good first round, to sit tied for 11th at the halfway stage of the Austrian Alpine Open. With rounds of 67-68 at the par-70 Gut Altentann Golf Course. Ahlawat was 5-under and six shots behind the leader, Marcel Schneider (63-66) at 11-under.

Ahlawat’s colleague Shubhankar Sharma played a much better second round at the Gut Altentann Golf Course with a round of one-under par, but it was not enough to keep him in the tournament. The difficult first day came back to haunt him as it left him quite a bit short of the cut, which was set at one under par, while his total score was four over par. This is the fifth straight missed cut for Sharma.

Ahlawat had four birdies and two bogeys. The birdies came on the third, fifth, ninth, and 18th holes, and the bogeys came on the second and 15th holes, according to information received here on Saturday.

The first-day leader, Schneider, played a bogey-free round of four under par on the second day to hold onto his two-shot lead over his closest rival. He made birdies on the eighth, ninth, 14th and 18th holes.

Schneider made his first birdie on the eighth hole with an impressive 22-foot putt before chipping in another birdie on the ninth for a successive birdie. The impressive display of putting prowess was once again put on full display on the 14th hole as he put in another put from more than 20 feet for the second time in the round.

In the second place, two shots behind the leader is Nicolai Von Dellingshausen. He played four under par with five birdies and one bogey to make sure that Schneider did not extend the lead by the end of the second day.

In third place is Callum Tarren of England, and he shot a brilliant bogey-free round of 63.

–IANS

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