Jaipur, Oct 24 (PTI) Aman Raj moved closer to his first pro title in 22 months after firing a sensational 9-under 61 to maintain his stronghold on the second day of the IGPL Invitational Jaipur here on Friday.
He had carded an identical 9-under on the first day on Thursday, but this effort was even more creditworthy as it was bogey free.
Aman (61-61) is now 18-under and four shots clear of second placed Kartik Singh (63-63), who shot a second successive 7-under round to get to 14-under.
Olympian Udayan Mane (65-62), who produced a bogey free 8-under second round after a first round 65 to rise to 13-under, needs a fast start to win in his first start on the IGPL. Mane is five behind leader Aman and one behind Kartik Singh.
Aman, a two-time winner
in Jaipur, starting from the first tee, found his first birdie in the second hole and then added three in a row from the fifth to the seventh.
Two pars later, he turned in 4-under for the day and 13-under for the week.
The birdie spree continued as he added another on the 10th. Three pars may have suggested a lull in the proceedings, but he closed with a flourish, carding four birdies in the last five holes to get to 18-under.
Mane, who began from the second hole in the shotgun start, had a super run that included five birdies in a row from the sixth to the 10th.
He had a sixth birdie on the 14th and then produced back-to-back gains on the 17th and the 18th before closing with a par on the first, which was his last hole of the day.
The 16-year-old Kartik had an eagle in Par-5 eighth, six other birdies and one solitary bogey on the Par-4 fifth hole.
He started with a birdie on the first and then birdied the fourth before giving a shot back.
A birdie and an eagle on the eighth and the ninth meant he was 4-under for the front nine.
On the back nine Kartik just could not hole any putts for six holes from the 10th to the 15th. Then he made up with three in a row from the 16th to the 18th.
Ridhima Dilawari, who went 1-over 71 on the first day, made up for that on this day with a 5-under 65 that had six birdies against one bogey.
She is the leading woman pro in the field. The next best woman pro is Sneha (70-68) in tied 30th place at 2-under total.
Behind her are: Lavanya Jadon (68-71) and Khushi Khanijau (72-67) at 1-under total and in tied 33rd place.
Rahul Ravi (69-67) is the leading amateur in tied 21st place. PTI UNG AH AH
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