Sports
Shrestha opens up four-stroke lead
Jayaram Shrestha opened up a four-stroke lead in the second round of the Surya Nepal Western Open at the par-70 Himalayan Golf Course on Thursday.Jayaram Shrestha opened up a four-stroke lead in the second round of the Surya Nepal Western Open at the par-70 Himalayan Golf Course on Thursday.
Jayaram shot an even-par 70 for a two-round total of one-over 141. Local amateur Ajit BK and Army Club pro Dhana Bahadur Thapa were tied for second at five-over 145 in the seventh event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2017-18. Overnight joint-leader BK carded four-over 74 and Thapa shot three-over 73.
Top-ranked pro Shivaram Shrestha, Bhuwan Nagarkoti and Bhu Bahadur Gurung were for third at six-over 146. Shivaram, the winner of five events so far this season, shot one-over 71, while Nagarkoti carded two-over 72 and Gurung four-over 74. Rabi Khadka carded 71 and was in seventh at 147 followed by Pradeep Kumar Lama (71) in eighth at 149.
Rame Magar and Surya Prasad Sharma were tied for ninth at 150, while Yelamber Singh Adhikari, Bikash Adhikari and Sanjeev Bahadur Nepali were next in a group three sharing 11th position. Pashupati Sharma, Kamal Tamang, Deepak Magar, Bal Bhadra Rai, Dhruba KC, Basanta Raj Gurung, Gopal Nagarkoti and Rajendra Shrestha Pradhan survived the cut which was applied at 23-over 163.
BK is the runaway leader in the amateur category, 12 shots ahead over his nearest rival Niraj Tamang, who played six-over 76, and Suresh Tamang (72). Yubraj Bhujel, Jiwan Rai and Bipin Tamang also made the cut for final round.
Jayaram carded one-under 34 on the front nine and one-over 36 on the back nine. He had a double bogey on the seventh against birdies on the fifth, eighth and ninth holes. On his way back, Jayaram had bogeys on the 11th and 16th holes against a birdie on the 15th. BK shot three-over 38 on the front nine to add to one-over 36 on the back nine. He had double bogeys on the third and sixth holes as well as another drop shot on the eighth. BK also sank birdies on the fourth and fifth holes. On the back nine, he made bogeys on the 12th, 15th and 18th holes against birdies on the 4th and 16th holes.
Thapa shot one-over 36 on the front nine and two-over 37 on the back nine. He opened his round with a bogey and dropped another shot on the sixth against a birdie on the ninth. On the back nine, Thapa made bogeys on the 12th, 13th and 14th holes against a birdie on the 10th hole. Kumar Kami, who shot 13-over 83 and made the cut, was disqualified for submitting the card with wrong scores.