Arjun Singh sparkles in Srinagar

Arjun Singh, the man who rarely goes wrong on a golf course, scripted another brilliant performance on the second day of the Rs 1.8 million Kashmir Open to take a commanding three-stroke lead over a quality field on Thursday.

At the half-way stage in the first 'major' of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour, the 34-year-old from Delhi dominated the par-72 Royal Springs Golf Course for a round of four-under 68. That gave him a two-day tally of nine-under 135, three better than the second-placed Jyoti Randhawa, Pappan and Mukesh Kumar. Uttam Singh Mubndy was in sole possession of the fifth place at 5-under 139.

The best card of the day was submitted by Harmeet Kahlon, runner-up last year, who shot a six-under 66.

Defending champion Digvijay Singh was still in the hunt after his second successive round of 2-under 70. Both Digvijay and Kahlon were tied for the sixth place at 4-under 140.

The cut was applied at 8-over 152, and 52 pros and five amateurs made it to the third round. Among the big names to miss the cut were veteran Rohtas Singh, Ajay Gupta and Zai Kipgen.

While none of the local pros made the cut, there was immense joy for Ghulam Hasan Pandow, who became the first player in the 2003-04 season of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour to make a hole-in-one. Pandow achieved this rare feat on the picturesque fifth hole with a 5-iron shot off the tee. Despite returning a card of 28-over 100, Pandow would now be a proud owner of a Hero Honda Passion motorcycle, the prize instituted by the Tour sponsors for the first hole-in-one in any Tour event.

Arjun, who hit all 18 greens in regulation on Wednesday for his round of 5-under 67, started a bit shaky from the 10th tee. After making a par despite a poor drive on the 10th, he hit his tee shot into water on the 11th for his first bogey of the tournament. Day after, the tall golfer revived his round in spectacular fashion, making five birdies. On the 13th and 15th, he made birdie putts from eight and 10 feet, and a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth onwards and ensured a 68 for him.

"The greens were much faster than what they were yesterday, but I somehow could not read the lines at all. Because of mountains on one side and the Dal Lake on the other, the slopes are deceptive. However, I am hitting the ball well and giving myself several birdie opportunities," said the leader.

Randhawa, joint leader at the start of the day, did not have the best of rounds but still managed to string together a round of 1-under 71.

"I was not my usual self today. I tried a little too hard to put up a good score. Given the way I was feeling, I am glad I held the round together and I feel that a 1-under 71 is a good score," said the No.1 player in Asia.

Mukesh, the No.1 player on the Indian PGA Tour for the last four years, shot his second successive three-under 69. The Mhow-based pro started from the 10th tee and immediately made a bogey when he missed a 3-feet par putt. Thereafter, Mukesh was consistency personified and made birdies on 17th, 18th, 7th and eighth holes for a 69.

Pappan started  the day at four-under and was solid in a round of 70, that included three birdies and one bogey. The popular Delhi Golf Club golfer made eight straight pars to start with before making his first birdie on the 9th hole. On the back nine, a bogey on the difficult par-3 12th was followed by birdies on the 14th and 15th.

Scores (after 36 holes): 135_Arjun Singh (67,68); 138_Mukesh Kumar (69,69), Pappan (68,70), Jyoti Randhawa (67,71); 139_Uttam S  Mundy (69,70); 140_Harmeet Kahlon (74,66), Digvijay Singh (70,70); 141_Rahil Gangjee (73,68), Rahul Ganapathy (71,70); Feroz Ali (70.71); 142_Shamim Khan (71,71), Ranjit Singh (68,74); 143_Roop Singh (73,70), Anurag Rohana (72,71), Shiv Prakash (71,72), 144_Dinesh Raghuvanshi (71,73), Vijay Kumar (71,73), Gaurav Ghei (72,72).

Amateurs: 144_Girish Virk (73,71).