Keshav Mishra was not only on a birdie-spree but on a record-breaking one too as the second round of the Royal Challenge Indian Golf Tour's Northern Indian Amateur championship saw some remarkable performances including a hole-in-one by Deepinder Kullar at the Army Golf Course in Delhi on Wednesday.
The IOCL-lad fired ten birdies to return a card of nine-under 63 to record the lowest total in the history of amateur golf in India, erasing the earlier record of six-under 66. He also eclipsed the course record of seven-under 65 set by Jaskirat Dullet at he Northern India junior/Sub-junior open last year.
Today's round gave Keshav a six-stroke cushion over the second-placed Jagmohan Gill, who was the joint-overnight leader.
The other overnight leader Simarjeet Singh was tied for third place along with Vikramjit Singh and Vikrant Chopra, who all had a 36-hole total of one-under 143. Ranjit Singh, who is incidentally the son of the legendary Asian gold medallist Laxman Singh, submitted a card of four-under 68 to occupy the sole sixth position.
As many as 41 players including former cricketing legend Kapil Dev, who played a commendable level-par round of 72 and is tied-seventh, made it to the last two rounds after the cut was applied at 12-over 156.
Keshav, who began from the tenth, made an ominous start when he missed a two-footer par putt. That was the only speck on his otherwise blemish-less card. Playing like a man possessed, the cherry-faced amateur made six birdies in a row starting from the 11th to take the turn at five-under.
The 26-year-old who is playing after a long lay-off of six months due to appendicitis, began his back nine with a spate of pars before registering a hat-trick of birdies beginning from the fifth. The birdie on the sixth was his pick of the day where the hole was playing tough. With a good driver shot coupled with a calculated wedge, he drowned a 30-footer birdie. The Indian team star who hit an amazing 17 greens, signed off with another birdie on the ninth.
"I was a little tentative yesterday but after gauging the course conditions I decided to be aggressive and the strategy worked," said Keshav, who had 27 putts for the day.
"I can't complain after such a good round. Surely this is my Royal Challenge moment of my career," he added even as he basked in glory.
Deepinder Kullar, playing at his home course shared the limelight when he aced the 180-yard par-3 ninth. A calculated 8-iron shot fell just short of the green before rolling in.
"I just wanted to be on the green and make a birdie. With a slight tail-wind behind me, I chose an 8-iron and was delighted to see the ball roll into the cup," said the 23-year-old even as he shot a round of six-over par 78 to slip to the tied-17th position.
Scores (after 36 holes): 136_Keshav Misra (73, 63); 142_Jagmohan Gill (70, 72); 143_Simarjeet Singh (70, 73), Vikramjit Singh (74, 69), Vikrant Chopra (71, 72); 144_Ranjit Singh (76, 68); 147_Arshpreet S Thind (76, 71), Gagan Verma (74, 73), Gaganjeet Bhullar (75, 72), Kapil Dev (75, 72), Rajeev Kumar (73, 74); 148_AS Lehal (75, 73), Maj Ajay Singh (78, 70), Manav Das (73, 75), Vikram Rana (75, 73).
