By IANS
Geisei (Japan) : Defending champion Jeev Milkha Singh sank three birdies on either side of the turn for a superb four-under 68 that catapulted him into a respectable tied 15th place Friday at the midway stage of the Casio World Open golf tournament.
Jeev, whose win in the tournament was his maiden win in Japan last year, also had two bogeys. His total is now one-under 143 for 36 holes and he is seven shots behind the leader, South Korea’s I.J. Chang (67).
Shiv Kapur, the other Indian in the field, also made the cut safely despite running into a rash of bogeys on the back nine. He had four dropped shots in the last seven holes. Kapur who was one-under for the day after 11 holes, finally ended the day 73 for a total of three-over 147 and tied 43rd place.
Jeev birdied the second and third added a third on par-5 seventh before making his first mistake with a bogey on par-3 eighth where he failed to find the green off the tee.
On the back nine, he started with a birdie and added another on the 14th before making his second bogey of the day on the 16th. A closing birdie with a chip-in on par-5 18th meant he had birdied three of the four par-fives and ended with a round of 68.
“It was a tidy enough round and the chip-in on the last was a nice finish and helped put me in a good mood,” said Jeev, who will again be defending a title next week at the JT Nippon Series, the end-of-the-season event.
Kapur was going along fine with birdies on fifth and sixth. A third followed on the 11th. He then bogeyed the 11th, 12th, 16th and 18th in a nightmarish finish that messed up all the good work.
Chang, who has just one win in Japan back in 2005, held a one-shot lead over tour veteran Taichi Teshima, who played with Order of Merit leader, Toru Taniguchi (69). Taniguchi is lying third, another shot further down.
Chang’s flawless round of 67 for a total of 8-under-par 136 at Kochi Kuroshio Country Club gave him the lead.
Teshima, who played mostly on the European Tour this year, shot a 68 and joint first-round leader Taniguchi had his second straight 69 to be seven-under 137 after two days.
Taniguchi will increase his lead in the race to be the top money winner this year by finishing ahead of Shingo Katayama (72) who was lying 25th at one-over.