Chennai, Sep 17 (IANS) Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh maintained his lead with a solid four-under 68 on the second day of the Chennai Open 2025, an Rs 1 crore event, being played at the Cosmo TNGF Golf Course here on Wednesday.
Akshay (63-68), who enjoyed a three-shot lead after round one, retained his place at the top of the pack after reaching a total of 13-under 131 on Day Two. The 35-year-old Akshay, a winner of three titles, including two on the PGTI and one on the PGTI Feeder Tour, was the clubhouse leader by one shot as the second round could not be completed on Wednesday due to fading light.
Delhi’s Shaurya Bhattacharya (67-65), who was tied fourth after round one, being four shots off the lead, produced a 65 on day two to be placed second in the clubhouse at 12-under 132.
Rain delayed the start of play by one hour for the second day in succession on Wednesday, with action getting underway at 8:00 am local time. As a result, the round could not be completed on Wednesday as play was suspended due to fading light at 6:15 pm.
Twelve players out of a total of 125 could not complete round two on Wednesday. They will resume their second round from 7:30 am on Thursday. The cut will be declared after the completion of round two, and the third round will begin subsequently. Round three will not begin before 9 am on Thursday.
Akshay Sharma, not in the same kind of form as Round One, managed to keep himself ahead of the rest with some great wedge-play in round two. Akshay landed his wedges within four feet of the pin on three occasions on the back nine, where he went on to pick up birdies.
Among Akshay’s three birdies on the front nine, two were conversions from a range of 15 to 20 feet. However, he also dropped two bogeys on the front nine.
Akshay said, “I didn’t play as well as in round one, especially in terms of my tee shots and putting. But the wedges came to my rescue today, the gap wedge in particular, which set up some early birdies for me.
“I have good memories from this course, having led the field here going into the final round a couple of years back. I’ll look to refresh those memories in the last two rounds, and if I can come close to repeating what I did in round one, I feel I stand a good chance of ending my five-year-long victory drought this week.”
Shaurya Bhattacharya’s round featured a couple of conversions from 30 to 35 feet as he came up with eight birdies against a lone bogey.
Gurugram’s Manu Gandas (68) was placed third at 10-under 134.
Panchkula-based Anant Singh Ahlawat made a hole-in-one on the par-3 fourth hole on his way to a nine-under 63, the day’s lowest round. Anant occupied tied fourth position at nine-under 135 along with Sri Lanka’s N Thangaraja (66).
–IANS
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