By IANS
Gurgaon : A birdie-birdie finish may have come as a consolation, but that could hardly be satisfying for Jeev Milkha Singh considering the excellent scoring in the morning session of the second day at the Johnnie Walker Classic at the DLF Golf and Country Club here Friday.
Jeev, three-under after seventh, dropped to even par when he double bogeyed the fifth – his 14th hole – but the last two birdies ensured he had not lost it completely. Jeev was six-under 138 and still very much in the picture as the Korea-born Australian Unho Park complied a 66 to go take early lead at 10-under 134.
“The breeze was up and it was easier this morning. There were so many birdie chances in the morning and if you get the putter going, you can really have a chance to get them. Jyoti (Randhawa) did exactly that with a seven-under round,” Jeev said shrugging aside his disappointment after his two-under 70.
Jeev, who started off sedately with three pars after teeing off from the tenth, found three between the 13th and 15th and zoomed up the leaderboard, which for sometime had three Indians in top six – Jyoti Randhawa (65) and Rahil Gangjee (71) were the other two.
The 2006 Asia No.1 once again ran into problems at the 17th, which he bogeyed.
“I needed to play the 17th properly. I bogeyed it yesterday (Thursday) and it slowed me down today (Friday) again. I played it in a conservative way but the ball still rolled down into the water. After that I found pars and missed a few birdies,” he said.
Jeev found birdies on 13th, 14th and 16th before faltering on the next. On the front nine, he doubled bogeyed the fifth and ended the day’s play with birdies on the eighth and the ninth.
On the double bogey, Jeev said: “I hit it just right and it hit the cart path and it went 350 yards behind a bush. I had no shot chipped it out sideways. I hit the green but it was severe and it ran off. I chipped it on and two putted for a double.”