Mexico's Pablo del Olmo produced a dream six-under 66 to move into the joint lead after the second round in the Rs 13.8 million Royal Challenge Indian Open golf tournament in Delhi, on Friday.
A resurgent Olmo sunk six birdies for an overall 9-under 135 even as he began discovering the wild life beauty of the Delhi Golf Club.
"It has become one of my best courses in the world," said the Mexican, who was amazed by his flora and fauna that included a peacock dancing on a snake.
"Such wild life in the middle of a town it's unbelievable," said an overawed Olmo, who was joint-runner-up last year.
"This is the best putting I have had in a long time," said Olmo, who consulted well-known sports psychologist Dr. Deborah Graham to improve his confidence.
A switch to new equipment recently had affected the 34-year-old's rhythm, resulting in a dip in form.
"I am beginning to understand the greens here; I judged the lines right. And the communication and understanding with the caddie was good too," he said.
Starting on the 10th tee, Olmo had his first birdie at the par-4 15th and followed it up with another on the 545-yard 18th before scoring four more on the back nine.
"I did not putt a very long birdie, neither did I miss a short putt. It was a consistent performance," Olmo said with satisfaction.
Sharing the top position with Olmo were overnight leader Keith Horne of South Africa, Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and Mardan Mamat of Singapore.
While Mamat had a brilliant second round of 5-under 67, Horne had an off day.
The South African, who tied the course record with a 9-under yesterday, struggled to save par while Wiratchant faired better with a 69 as against first round's 66.
One stroke behind the leaders was American Clay Devers, who maintained his good form with a 69. He was closely followed by compatriot Gary Rusnak, who too turned in an identical card for an overall 7-under 137.
Australian Adam Fraser hit a 7-under 65 to make amends for his first round 74 while Gaurav Ghei carded a 75 to be pushed down to 1-over 145.
The cut was applied at 146 and 69 made it to the money making round.
The big names missing it included Boonchu Ruangkit of Thailand, who was fifth in the Asian Tour Oder of Merit last week, Ali Sher, S S P Chaurasia, Rahil Gangjee, Ashok Kumar and Vivek Bhandari.
Second round scores
135 - Keith Horne (RSA) 63-72, Pablo Del Olmo (MEX) 69-66, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 66-69, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 68-67 136 - Clay Devers (USA) 67-69 137 - Gary Rusnak (USA) 68-69 138 - David Gleeson (AUS) 69-69, Greg Hanrahan (USA) 70-68, Mukesh Kumar (IND) 67-71, Stephen Lindskog (SWE) 69-69, Mo Joong-Kyung (KOR) 68-70 139 - Ross Bain (SCO) 69-70, Gerry Norquist (USA) 73-66, Shamim Khan (IND) 67-72, Adam Fraser (AUS) 74-65, Vijay Kumar (IND) 71-68 140 - Mike Cunning (USA) 71-69, Amritinder Singh (IND) 68-72, Bryan Saltus (USA) 68-72, Rafiq Ali (IND) 69-71, Lam Chih Bing (SIN) 71-69 141 - Amandeep Johl (IND) 72-69, Richard Moir (AUS) 74-67, Harmeet Kahlon (IND) 72-69, Rick Gibson (CAN) 70-71, Chris Williams (RSA) 70-71, Sanjay Kumar (IND) 71-70 142 - Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA) 69-73, Jason Dawes (AUS) 70-72, Anthony Gilligan (AUS) 72-70, Firoz Ali (IND) 72-70 143 - Arjun Singh (IND) 72-71, Richard Backwell (AUS) 72-71, Craig Kamps (RSA) 69-74, Vinod Kumar (IND) 73-70, Scott Strange (AUS) 72-71, Adam Le Vesconte (AUS) 74-69, Moon Kyung-Don (KOR) 73-70, Yusof Ali (IND) 71-72, Yeh Chang-Ting (TPE) 68-75, Harinder Gupta [A] (IND) 73-70 144 - Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 74-70, Roop Singh (IND) 70-74, Kim Felton (AUS) 71-73, Akinori Tani (JPN) 74-70 145 - Edward Michaels (USA) 73-72, Rafael Ponce (ECU) 76-69, Digvijay Singh (IND) 73-72, Scott Barr (AUS) 74-71, C. Muniyappa (IND) 72-73, Gast Ram (IND) 72-73, Chan Yih-Shin (TPE) 73-72, R. Nachimuthu (MAS) 73-72, Lee Sung-Man (KOR) 72-73, Gaurav Ghei (IND) 70-75, Uttam Singh Mundy (IND) 71-74, Andrew Pitts (USA) 72-73, Eiji Mizoguchi (JPN) 70-75 146 - Scott Taylor (USA) 69-77, Prom Meesawat (THA) 78-68, Sung Mao-Chang (TPE) 72-74, Anura Rohana (SLK) 73-73, Davender Patel (IND) 71-75, Vikramjit Singh (IND) 73-73, Jumman (IND) 73-73, Basad Ali (IND) 75-71, Naman Dawar (IND) 77-69, Atthaphon Prathumanee (THA) 71-75, Shiv Prakash (IND) 73-73 147 - Saurabh Bahuguna [A] (IND) 72-75, Olle Nordberg (SWE) 73-74, Adam Groom (AUS) 76-71, Pappan (IND) 73-74, P. Gunasegaran (MAS) 78-69, Anthony Kang (USA) 71-76, Ali Sher (IND) 73-74 148 - Gurbaaz Mann (IND) 79-69, Boonchu Ruangkit (THA) 71-77, Angelo Que (PHI) 76-72, James Stewart (HKG) 75-73, Kenichi Ryu (JPN) 75-73, Wang Ter-Chang (TPE) 74-74, S.S.P. Chaurasia (IND) 70-78, Zane Scotland (ENG) 73-75, Jaiveer Virk (IND) 74-74 149 - Jamnian Chitprasong (THA) 71-78, Rahil Gangjee (IND) 77-72, Jonathan Cheetham (ENG) 77-72, Sandeep Sayal (IND) 76-73, Shinichi Goma (JPN) 72-77, Airil-Rizman Zahari (MAS) 74-75, Jason Knutzon (USA) 74-75 150 - Amit Dube (IND) 71-79, Sheeraz Kalra (IND) 74-76, Suleman Ali (IND) 71-79, Unho Park (AUS) 73-77, Stuart Leong (AUS) 73-77, Satoshi Tomiyama (JPN) 74-76 151 - Bhoop Singh (IND) 73-78, Oh Seung-Won (KOR) 75-76, A.S. Lehal [A] (IND) 76-75, Monish Bindra (IND) 77-74, Antiya Chand [A] (IND) 72-79, Ashok Kumar (IND) 76-75, Edward Loar (USA) 71-80, Lu Wei-Lan (TPE) 76-75, Vivek Bhandari (IND) 77-74, Marcus Both (AUS) 73-78, Paul Spargo (AUS) 71-80, Soe Kyaw Naing (MYN) 75-76 152 - Danny Chia (MAS) 70-82, Lin Wen-Hong (TPE) 79-73, Dinesh Kumar (IND) 76-76, Ajay Gupta (IND) 71-81, Vishal Singh (IND) 76-76, Simarjeet Singh [A] (IND) 75-77, Jaideep Patwarman [A] (IND) 76-76, Mohd Islam (IND) 77-75 153 - Randhir Ghotra (IND) 73-80, Balbir Singh Verma (IND) 77-76, Hong Chia-Yuh (TPE) 76-77 Aung Win (MYN) 74-79 154 - Mark Monroe (USA) 77-77, Rahul Ganapathy (IND) 77-77, Ranjit Singh (IND) 73-81, Binod Pandey (IND) 72-82, David Kang (KOR) 75-79, Jim Johnson (USA) 78-76 155 - Kotaro Asahara (JPN) 79-76, Alistair Presnell (AUS) 74-81, M.Sasidaran (MAS) 78-77, 156 - Rajeev Kumar (IND) 80-76, Mohd Salim (IND) 79-77, Vikrant Chopra [A] (IND) 79-77, 157 - Keshav Misra [A] (IND) 82-75, Lin Chie-Hsiang (TPE) 75-82, Kanwar Sekhon (IND) 79-78 158 - Satoshi Shimouchi (JPN) 75-83, Glenn Joyner (AUS) 76-82, Mohd Nawab (IND) 80-78 159 - Shaaban Hussin (MAS) 81-78, Somkiat Srisanga (THA) 76-83, 160 - D.S. Raghuvanshi (IND) 79-81, Apinai Wannapairote (THA) 75-85, Rejwan Ali (IND) 78-82 161 - Surawin Suwannodom (THA) 83-78 162 - Mohd Maqbool (IND) 80-82, Nabin Mondal (IND) 78-84 168 - Pritam Saikia (IND) 79-89 169 - G.S. Sethi (IND) 85-84.
