Ahlawat, Sandhu fly Indian flag high by occupying Top-2 spots at The DGC Open

Veer Ahlawat and Ajeetesh Sandhu ensured the Indian flag was flying high at the midway stage of The DGC Open.

Both Veer Ahlawat and Sandhu played bogey-free rounds with 67 and 68 respectively. Ahlawat, looking for his maiden win on the Asian Tour, is nine-under and two clear of Sandhu, who is looking to add to the lone Asian Tour win he had in Chinese Taipei in 2017.

Gurgaon-based Veer was leading the pack on 9-under par 135 (68-67) and Ajeetesh Sandhu (67-68) climbed into the sole second place at 137.

Gaganjeet Bhullar played his best-ever round at the DGC with a 6-under 66 that included five birdies in a row from 13th to 18th after starting on the 10th.

Lying in sole third was Thailand's Nitithorn Thippong (68-70) at 6-under 138.

Bhullar (73-66) was tied-fourth with two other Thais Chanat Sakulpolphaisan and Kasidit Lepkurte as the top six at the $500,000 Asian Tour event had three Indians and three Thais.

Sandhu was one of the few to buck the trend of the morning starters dominating the leaderboard with his bogey-free round late in the afternoon. He needed a small slice of luck with a tricky third shot over the greenside bunker on the ninth hole and an up-and-down to keep a clean card.

Ahlawat, who has been looking good on the domestic Tour and also had a good showing when the Asian Tour resumed action, said, "My swing is feeling pretty good so I was confident that if I keep hitting it in the fairway, I'm going to hit good second shots."

"That was my plan for today. Just keep it in play - you don't have to get long off the tee, just keep it in play. I started pretty good on the back nine and kept sticking it really close and made five birdies. On the front nine, I missed a chip-putt on the first for birdie and after that, I did hit it pretty close. I did save a few par putts like on the seventh where I holed a six-footer and then on the last hole I made a 15-footer for par."

"The wind was much less today morning than yesterday afternoon. In the back nine, it did start blowing a little bit, but it wasn't that much," he added.

Second-placed Sandhu felt he had left a few shots out on the course but was satisfied with his effort overall. "I'm happy but I think there were a lot of missed opportunities again, but that's OK. It was tough with the wind. I think you really had been patient, but the greens are excellent. If you miss a putt, you can't really complain about the surface, it's your fault. The course is playing fantastic."

Bhullar went on a tear towards the end of his outbound nine, rolling in five birdies in a row after a bogey-birdie swap to turn in 5-under 31. He then picked up two further shots but gave one back in a 6-under 66 card for the day.

"I actually started really well. On 11, I got to the green in three and made a bogey. Other than that I bounced back with five back to back birdies. I was just in a good frame of mind from yesterday's finish. And I thought that I'd been playing well. Yesterday was a day when I played well, but I didn't score that well. So today I think the number came", said Bhullar.

"I think this is my best round at the DGC as a pro. I've shot 6-under as a junior, as an amateur, but I've never shot 6-under as a pro. So, I think overall I played really well," he added.

Shiv Kapur survived a difficult second day to sit on level par 144 (71-73) in a tie for 22nd place after coming back from 4-over through 10 holes to 1-over for the round.

Overnight joint leader Shankar Das was down in shared 12th place on 3-under 141 (67-74) after a difficult second day. Co-leader Australian Travis Smyth struggled in the tougher afternoon conditions as he slipped into a tie for seventh place on 4-under 140 (67-73).

Making the cut, which came at 5-over par 149 were Indian golf legend Jeev Milkha Singh, former Indian Open winners S.S.P. Chawrasia and Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh and South Africa's Ian Snyman in the 138-strong field.

In all, 67 professionals went through the money rounds in an event that has seen scores on the higher side on the first two days. None of the amateurs made the cut.

( With inputs from ANI )