Manish joins Aryan and Thangaraja at the top

Bengaluru’s Aryan Roopa Anand played smart to stay in joint lead
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Coimbatore: Gurugram’s Manish Thakran found his form midway through to join overnight leaders Aryan Roopa Anand (Bengaluru) and N. Thangaraja (Sri Lanka) at the top after the second round in the Coimbatore Open, presented by KgiSL, at the par-72 Coimbatore Golf Club course here on Wednesday.

Manish, who was tied fifth the other day, carded a six-under 66. It contained five birdies on the back-nine and all of them came as a result of some great wedge shots.

But as the wind picked up, he lost a bit of his grip and shot four birdies along with three bogeys.

Gurugram’s Manish Thakran did one better than the rest in the second round
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The 27-year-old missed the first half of the season due to a rib fracture. It hurt him a lot as he couldn’t play for three months. However, this time around, he was back to his best and joined the leader group for the first time.

Rookie Aryan (66-68), on the other hand, fired six birdies but continued to stay in joint lead. “I missed some of my tee shots but they were on the correct side. I played smart and was not overly optimistic,” he said.

Thangaraja (66-68) with an eagle on the ninth and coupled with four birdies and two bogeys held firm to his joint lead as well. But overnight leader Saptak Talwar shot a 69 to drop down to the fourth position. The cut was declared at three-over 147 and 55 professionals made the cut.

Leaderboard, after round 2: 134 Manish Thakran (68-66), Aryan Roopa Anand (66-68), N Thangaraja (66-68); 135 Saptak Talwar (66-69); 136 Harshjeet Singh Sethie (69-67).