Kuala Lumpur, May 8 (IANS) India’s Pukhraj Singh Gill stayed on the top of the leaderboard despite a mid-round wobble when he dropped three shots in a space of three holes at the Players Championship. The Indian ace, who plays on the Indian Premier Golf League (IGPL), carded 2-under 70 and moved to 13-under and held a one-shot lead over Filipino Sean Ramos (67), who is 12-under.

Thanawin Lee of Thailand (73) was third at 9-under. Of the other Indians, Khalin Joshi (71) was T-33, while young Kartik Singh, who played on the IGPL in 2025, slipped from inside the Top-10 to T-56 with a disappointing round of 81. Aman Raj, Aryan Roopa Anand, and Varun Parikh, all of whom play on the IGPL, missed the cut.

Gill, a long hitter of the tee, won once on the IGPL last year, and this season he plays for Honer Homes Gurugram in the team competition, which was introduced alongside the tour.

Gill started superbly with an eagle two on Par-4 fourth and added birdies on the sixth and the eighth to move to 15-under and held a three-shot lead at one stage. Then he bogeyed the ninth and double bogeyed the 11th. He recovered with a string of pars and birdied the 17th to shoot 70 and reached 13-under.

Last year, apart from one win, Gill contended multiple times, and his consistency saw him take the Order of Merit. He earned a spot in the International Series Singapore, where he was Tied-26th. “That Singapore experience helped me a lot, and I am very confident as the season progresses,” said Gill, who hails from Ludhiana in Punjab.

Earlier, Gill played 25 holes on the second day and produced superb golf to move into the pole position for a maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) victory.

After finishing seven holes from the first round, the 29-year-old winner, who won the Order of Merit on the IGPL Tour in India, is holding the 36-hole clubhouse lead at 11-under-par 133 at Saujana Golf & Country Club in Malaysia.

Resuming his first round, he moved from 4-under to 6-under as the co-leader of the first round, which was cut short by yesterday’s two and a half hour thunderstorm delay.

–IANS

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