Greater Noida (U.P.), Sep 18 (IANS) Kartik Singh sits on the threshold of a milestone in his young career as he sits on a three-shot lead over a starry field at the IGPL Delhi NCR hosted by Gaurav Ghei. The 16-year-old, who finished eighth on his professional debut last week in Chandigarh, added a 3-under 67 on a course which was played to Par-70 in the second round.

Hole four was played as a Par-3 instead of Par-5 because of excessive rain and waterlogging. So, the Par for the Jaypee Greens course came down to 70, and par for the first two rounds was 142 (72-70). Kartik had a first-round 68 (-4), and he added a 3-under 67 to get to seven-under 135 in only his second professional event.

Winner of multiple titles on the junior and amateur circuit, Kartik is now within handshaking distance of a pro win, which will be worth Rs. 22.50 lakhs. He was three shots clear of the experienced Karandeep Kochhar (70-68) at 4-under 138 and the long-hitting Pukhraj Singh Gill (72-66).

Gaganjeet Bhullar, winner of the inaugural IGPL Invitational in Chandigarh last week, added an even par 70 to his first round 2-under 70 and was 2-under 140. He was tied fourth alongside Kartik Sharma (70-70), Veer Ganapathy (69-71), and Raghav Chugh (72-68).

Four players, the three-time Asian Tour winner, Shiv Kapur (73-68), IL Aalaap (69-71), Syed Saqib Ahmed (74-67), and Sunhit Bishnoi (73-68) were all at 1-under 141 and in Tied-eighth place.

Teen prodigy Kartik once again opened with a bogey, but again he quickly recovered with a birdie on the Par-5 second. Two more birdies on the fifth and the seventh against another bogey on the ninth saw him turn in 1-under.

He played steady on the back nine with birdies on the tenth, 14th, and 15th but gave back a shot on the 16th for a 2-under back nine and a total of 3-under.

Kartik holds a three-shot lead over a field that has multiple winners on the Asian tour, like Bhullar and Kapur. Yet, the young golfer was confident and looking forward to the final day as he said he was enjoying the thrill of pro golf on the IGPL Tour.

“The last two weeks have been really good. Last week, the IGPL Chandigarh was my first tournament as a professional, and I was excited about it. It was always my dream to turn professional, and I am really grateful to the IGPL. It has been a great experience and I am enjoying it,” he said.

Kartik, who was tied-eighth last week, added, “I have tried to take this tournament in the same way as I took other tournaments. I have played this course as a junior and an amateur. I am treating it the same, except that the stakes are higher and many other players are very good and senior professionals.”

On his own play, he went on, “The last two days I have played good golf, and if I can keep going the same way and make fewer mistakes, I will be very happy. It will be a big day for me tomorrow.”

On his ultimate goal, he shyly concluded, “I have always wanted to play professional golf, and my goal is to get to the PGA, and IGPL can help me do that.”

Kochhar, who was a 17-year-old amateur when he won a pro title on the Indian Tour, had a fairly clean round with two birdies on the front nine and then one birdie and one bogey on the back nine.

Kochhar, meanwhile, was all praise for Kartik and said, “It is great to see him play so well. We have a lot of very good young stars, and they are all coming together here.”

On his own IGPL debut, he added, “I missed last week because I was playing in Indonesia, but I am quite happy to be contending here this week. Let’s see how it goes. I played on the PGTI Tour at this venue earlier this year, but before that, it was ten years ago, and I am looking forward to the final day.”

Pukhraj Gill was on fire on the back nine after a modest front nine. He had a bogey on Par-5 second, which was a disappointment, but he picked a birdie on the third and on he fifth. But disaster struck in the form of a double bogey on the Par-4 sixth. Three pars later, he turned in 1-over.

On the back, Gill was in superb form. Three straight birdies on the 10th-11th and the 12th holes set him up well. He added two more on the 16th and the 18th for a back nine of 5-under and a total of 4-under for the day. Kartik, Kochhar, and Gill will play in the lead group.

The top woman player was Amandeep Drall (73-70) in 14th place, while the top amateurs were Arshvant Srivastava (73-76) and Ananyaa Sood (77-72) at 7-over 149. Arshvant and Ananyaa were tied 29th

–IANS

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