Niraj Tamang climbed to the top of the leaderboard after the second round of Surya Nepal Premier Golf Championship at the par-72 Gokarna Golf Club on Tuesday.

Tamang, who started the day three-stroke behind overnight leader amateur Wangchen Dhondup, carded his personal best score of eight-under 64 for the 36-hole total score of 12-under 132. He is two strokes ahead of Dhondup and Sukra Bahadur Rai.

Dhondup played a carded three-under 69 and Rai shot a seven-under 65 in the second round. Amateur Sadbhav Acharya carded career best six-under 66 to move up to fourth with the total score of nine-under 135. He is one stroke ahead of Nepal No 1 pro Bhuwan Nagarkoti, who played four-under 68 for the second day in a row. Purna Sharma carded five-under 67 to remain sixth at six-under 138 while Bhuwan Kumar Rokka is one stroke behind him at four-under 68.

Dhana Bahadur Thapa and amateur Aarav D Shah are jointly at eighth place at four-under 140. Thapa carded six-under 66 and Shah shot three-under 69. Rame Magar (71) and amateur Mahendra Phagami (72) shared the 10th place at three-under 141. Bishnu Sharma (70) and Rabi Kahdka (74) are tied at 12th place at two-under 142. Top amateur golfer Subash Tamang faltered to one-over 73 to drop down to 14th place at one-under 143.

The cut was applied at six-over 150 with 22 pros (top 21 and a tie) and eight amateurs making it to the final two rounds. Surya Prasad Sharma, Rajendra Thapa Magar, Deepak Neupane, Tirtha Poudel, Sanjok Moktan, Sanjay Lama, Rajendra Shrestha Pradhan, Dinesh Prajapati, Ramesh Adhikari and Pradeep Kumar Lama survived the cut. Among the amateurs, Tashi Tshiring, Sam Doublard and Vijay Shrestha Einhaus joined the top five golfers for the last two rounds.

Leader Tamang carded four-under 32 on both halves with a bogey-free round. He carded birdies on the second, third, fifth and sixth holes at front nine and sank an eagle on the par-four 14th hole along with birdies on the 12th and 15th holes.

Rai played six-under 30 on the front nine with a birdie on the first, third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth holes. He carded one-under 35 on the back nine. He dropped a shot on the 11th hole before birdies on the 13th and 14th holes.

Amateur Dhondup took the turn at two-under 34 and played one-under 35 on the back nine. He birdied on the first, third and fifth holes and faced a bogey on the fourth. At the latter half, he carded birdies on the 11th and 12th holes before dropping a shot on the 13th hole.

Altogether 54 players—43 pros and 11 amateurs—are taking part in the eighth and final event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2021-22. The flagship event of the Tour carries a cash purse of Rs1.461 million. The winner will be richer by Rs 250,000, while the runner-up will bag Rs155,000 and third-place finisher will walk away with Rs110,000.