Vijay Kumar storms into the lead

After almost shooting himself in the legs, Vijay Kumar, the Lion of Lucknow, roared back in contention as he blitzed the back nine of the par-70 Bombay Presidency Golf Club course, to take build up a two-stroke lead at the end of the penultimate day of the Rs 750,000 Hutchison-Essar Open, in Mumbai, on Thursday.

Vijay made six birdies in the last eight holes for a two-under 68, thus aggregating eight-under 132 after two days. That gave him a two-stroke cushion over Kolkata's Yusuf Ali, who added a second consecutive three-under 67 for a tally of six-under 134.

Kanpur veteran Shiv Prakash was one stroke behind Yusuf at five-under 135, following a four-under 66 today, which happened to be the day's best round, along with Gaurav Ghei of Delhi.

If Vijay holds on for a victory on Friday, it will be a sweet revenge for him over Yusuf. The duo were engaged in a thrilling playoff less than a month earlier in the Air Canada Forest Hill Open at Chandigarh, where the Kolkatan had prevailed.

Vijay's citymate Jumman moved to lone fourth place at 136, while there was a four-way tie for the fifth place at 137 between Ghei, Uttam Singh Mundy, Mukesh Kumar and Ranjit Singh. Overnight joint leaders Ashok Kumar and Ranjit failed to maintain the momentum, and while Ranjit slipped to tied fifth after a 73, Ashok shot a 75 and moved down to tenth place.

The cut was applied at nine-over 149 and 51 pros made it to the money-making round on Friday. Amit Nigam was the lone amateur to make the professional cut, with successive rounds of 73.

Vijay struggled in the front nine, and none of his putts dropped. To add to his woes, he bogied the par-3 sixth and 10th and a double bogey on the seventh saw him four-over after 10. Thereafter, he suddenly shifted gears and made birdies on the 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th to finish the day at two-under 68.

"The way I started, I thought I had lost it completely. I was not able to make even a single putt. But things fell into place on the back nine.

Considering that this is a three-day tournament, I think I can defend my lead tomorrow," said the three-time Mahindra Champion Golfer of the Year.

Scores (after 36 holes): 132 _ Vijay Kumar (64,68); 134 _ Yusuf Ali (67,67); 135 _ Shiv Prakash (69,66); 136 _ Jumman (69,67); 137_ Gaurav Ghei (71,66), Uttam Singh Mundy (69,68), Mukesh Kumar (68,69), Ranjit Singh (64,73); 138 _ Mohd Islam (69,69); 139 _ Ashok Kumar (64,75); 140 _ Sanjay Kumar (70,70), Dinesh Kumar (69,71); 141 _ Shamim Khan (70,71), Rafiq Ali (69,72); 142 _ Sheeraz Kalra (72,70), Jagdish Angre (72,70), Arjun Chaudhari (71,71), Prakash Kubde (71,71), Ali Sher (70,72), Mohd Salim (70,72).