DHARAN, December 26: Local pro Deo Raj Pakhrin carded two-under 68 to move atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Surya Nepal Eastern Open – the fifth event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour – at the par-70 Nirvana Country Club Health and Golf Resort in Dharan on Thursday.
With the 36-hole total of three-over 143, Deo Raj is one stroke ahead of Suman Rai, who is also from Dharan. Suman shot three-over 71 today. Another local golfer Sabin Sapkota, Army Club’s Sanjay Lama and Gokarna’s Umesh Nagarkoti shared the third position at five-over 145. Sabin shot 73, while Sanjay played a round of 74 and Umesh carded one-under 69.
Three pros, Tham Bahadur Rai (72), Ram Thapa (74) and Deepak Thapa Magar (75) shared the sixth position at six-over 146. No 2 pro Rabi Khadka is ninth at 147 after he faltered to six-over 76, while four pros — Mani Rai, Surya Prasad Sharma, Ram Krishna Shrestha and Ramesh Adhikari — were tied on 10th with the matching scores of nine-over 149. Other pros who made the cut that was applied at 20-over 160 included Dhana Thapa, CB Bhandari, Tirtha Poudel, Ramesh Nagarkoti, Bikash Adhikari, Dhruba KC, Pashupati Sharma, Uttam KC and Bishnu KC.
Local pro Deo Raj shared the 10th position after the first round with the score of five-over 75 on the day when five players shared the lead. In the second round, he produced the best card of two-under 68. Deo Raj took the turn at two-under 33 and maintained the score with even-par 35 on the back nine. He carded three birdies on the second, fourth and fifth holes against a lone bogey on the eighth hole on the front nine. On the back nine, he suffered a double bogey on the par-5 12th hole but amended the error with an eagle on the par-4 14th hole.
In Amateur section, top amateur golfer Dinesh Prajapati carded even-par 70 and moved atop the standing with the total score of seven-over 147. Dinesh, the member of Surya Nepal NGA Youth Golf Development Programme, is four strokes ahead of Rabindra Rai, who shot 76 for a total of 151. Purna Limbu is further one stroke down at third position, while Kaji Rai, Sukra Rai and Bikash Bogati also survived the cut.
The fifth event of the season carries a total prize purse of Rs 514,250. Top three pros will receive Rs 95,000, Rs 60,000 and Rs 44,000 respectively. Others in the top 21 will also get their share of cash prizes. After the completion of the main event on Saturday, the Pro-Am tournament will be held on Sunday.