Chikka in the van as five give chase at The DGC Open presented by Mastercard

Defending champion Nitithorn Thippong and Sadom Kaewkanjana, the highest-ranked player in the field, were hard on the heels of day two leader Chikkarangappa S. as the $750,000 second edition of The DGC Open presented by Mastercard reached its halfway stage.

The two Thais were in a group of five players including Rashid Khan, Om Prakash Chouhan and England’s Matt Killen three shots behind Chikkarangappa (68-66) who is in search of his maiden Asian Tour title.

Nitithorn and Sadom finished strongly, sinking three birdies each over the final five holes. Sadom had a five-under 67 and Nitithorn went two-under with a 70 to total seven-under par 137 after 36 holes with Bangalore’s Chikkarangappasits on 10-under for two rounds.

With conditions on the softer side thanks to continuing clement weather over Delhi, the two-day total is already substantially better than the seven-under 281 that Nitithirn recorded at the inaugural edition of the DGC Open last year. In fact the group in second place have already equalled that total with Khan hitting a 67 and 70), Chouhan on 69 and 68) Sadom with a 70 and 67), Nitithorn (67-70) and Killen carding 68 and 69.

The 36-hole cut came at two-over par 146 with 76 players making the weekend rounds. There were 24 Indians, including amateurs, Yuvraj Singh (69-76) and Shaurya Bhattacharya (71-75) still left in the mix.

“I’m in good form. Last week's performance in Thailand has definitely boosted me and brought a lot of confidence,” Chikka said after his round. “I've been putting really well. My caddy and I discussed that we would try and hit the fairways and I've been striking the ball well.

“He (the caddy) has been given a big responsibility to make sure there is no driver in the bag. As a result, I hit more fairways here than I normally do. The course is a lot softer so it was easier for us to sort of hit shots or attack the flags.

“Today, I started with a birdie on the 10th hole, birdied the 12th as well and then 14 and 15, so I was four-under through the first six holes. After that, it kind of slowed down for me, I missed a few putts but then I made birdies on my last two holes. So, yeah, six birdies with 12 pars was amazing. I must have hit 18 regulations today,” added Chikka.

Nitithorn was thrilled with his finish. “The birdie on the last was a great finish and I will some advantage from that for tomorrow. I had a birdie on the first one but after that, my approach shot was not so good and I struggled a little bit.

“I bogeyed number 10 which took me to one over par. Then I birdied on 14 and 15 and then a birdie again on 18. I struggled a little bit today, but pretty happy about getting back to 2-under, so I'll take that.”

“My iron play was not so good and it was pretty different from yesterday when I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. But my short game was really good. The course played the same as yesterday, it was not windy also so it was pretty similar to yesterday.”

Chouhan had a blemish-free 68 on the day and he was well pleased with the effort. He said, “Have to say I’m very happy with my round today. DGC is a course where even the smallest mistake can lead to a bogey. I missed just one fairway today, on nine when I hit the ball left, got my second shot into the bunker and made a great up and down from there.”

He added, “Things are going according to plan and for the first time on this course, I have not touched my driver or three-wood, just using my 3- and 4-irons. One reason for my performance here so far is that I play and practice at Kalhaar in Ahmedabad, where the conditions and the green speeds are very similar.”

Karandeep Kochhar dropped a shot on his closing hole, after hitting into the bushes on the left of the 18th fairway. Still, the lanky Chandigarh golfer had no complaints with his 69 which had five birdies against two bogeys.

“It was a good round, tee to green. I played well. Had a good start birdie-birdie, then kind of slowed down a little bit. Was struggling to read the greens a little bit but it was better than yesterday for sure.

Sadom, who is playing at the DGC for the first time, was on the money almost all day. He said, “Today my tee shots were pretty good. I missed only two greens and had a lot of chances to make birdies. I think everything today was good for me and I will be looking to hit more fairways for tomorrow.”

Another Thai, Poom Saksansin, whose three Asian Tour wins include one in the Take Solutions Masters in Bangalore in 2017, started from the tenth and had an action packed nine-hole run from the 12th to the second.

His round included seven birdies, one bogey and just one par. He shot 66, the day’s equal best with Chikkarangappa and the Thai who shot 72 on the first day is now six-under par and was tied for seventh.

Justin Quiban of the Philippines, one of the three players tied second overnight, shot a 71 with an eagle, two birdies and three bogeys for his six-under as was Chonlatit Chuenboonngam (71-67), the impressive young Thai golfer beaten by Australian Wade Ormsby in a sudden-death play-off last week at the International Series Thailand.