Sanjay Kumar, Feroz Ali
displace Mukesh

Feroz Ali displaced arch rival Mukesh Kumar from the lead with a second-round two-under 70, and shared the top spot with Sanjay Kumar at the Tk 15 lakh (Rs 1.2 million) Dutch-Bangla Bank Bangladesh Open 2002, being played at the par-72 Kurmitola Golf Club.

The leaders tally five-under 139 at the mid-way stage of the 19th leg of the 2001-02 season's Hero Honda Golf Tour.

Mukesh Kumar's second round effort of level-par 72 was good enough to tie him at third position with fellow Mhow golfer Devendra Patel, Kolkata's Rafiq Ali and Yusuf Ali and Delhi's Jaiveer Virk at a score of four-under 140.

Bangladesh's own Babu Ahmed impressed with a round of one-under 71, to tie for the eighth position with five other golfers while another Bangladeshi, Jiban Ali, returned a career best round of three-under 69 for a tied 29th spot.

The cut was applied at 13-over 157 with exactly 50 professionals making it to the money-making rounds. The qualifiers included as many as nine Bangladeshi golfers including Babu Ahmed, Mohd. Ismail, Shaheed, Mohd. Rezaul Karim, Chand Mian, Jiban Ali Norul Islam Ghani, Robir Ali and Ahsan Ullah.

Among the leading golfers who missed the cut was Lucknow's Sheeraz Kalra, the second ranked 'Rookie' on the 2001-02 season's Hero Honda Golf Tour.

Feroz Ali had promised to overtake Mukesh yesterday and true to his word he opened up a one-stroke lead over his arch rival mid-way through the tournament.

"In today's level of competition, you cannot take anything for granted and though I feel I have taken the first step towards my title quest, there are two rounds still remaining to be played," said Feroz.

The Kolkata based Feroz has had a bumper 2002, with wins at the Hero Honda Open - Pune and the HT Pro Golf 2002, Greater Noida. A win here will place him just short of Mukesh's tally of 288 points for the coveted 'Mahindra Golfer of the Year' award and the accompanying cheque of Rs Ome million.

Feroz currently tallies 209.6 points.

"The KGC course is just brilliant," said Feroz. "I am yet to see greens truer than these. You find the right line and you can bet the putt will sink. However, it does take some time to adjust to the pace of the greens," he added. Starting from the 10th tee, Feroz dropped the first shot of his day on the 12th. He made up for this with birdies on the 15th and 17th. On his return journey, he birdied the 3rd, 6th and 7th but dropped two more shots on the 5th and the final hole of his round, the 9th.

"My hitting and putting are fine. I made some silly mistakes over the first two days which I will try to correct in the remaining rounds," said the '98 Indian Open winner.

Sanjay Kumar is among a handful of golfers who have done little or no sightseeing ever since they arrived at Dhaka. All the Lucknow golfer does after his round is to hit a few balls on the newly constructed KGC driving range then head to his hotel for a quick meal and siesta.

SCORE (after 36 holes): 139_Sanjay Kumar(70,69), Feroz Ali(69,70); 140_Rafiq Ali(71,69), Yusuf Ali(71,69), Devendra Patel(70,70), Jaiveer Virk(69,71), Mukesh Kumar(68,72); 141_Pappan(72,69), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia(72,69), Shamim Khan(71,70), Babu Ahmed(70,71), Digvijay Singh(69,72), Ranjit Singh(69,72).

Amateurs: 142_Mohd. Siddikur(72,70); 146_Mohd. Milon(76,70).

Yesterday's report:
Magnificent Mukesh takes lead at four under 68