KATHMANDU: Jayaram Shrestha carded five-under 63 on the second day and moved at the top of the Surya Nepal Challenge at the par-68 Royal Nepal Golf Club in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Jayaram posted the 36-hole total of seven-under 129 in the second event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2016-17. Jayaram had plated two-under 66 on the first day. Sanjay Lama is at the second position with six-under 130 after he carded five-under 63 in the second round.
Top pro Shivaram Shrestha (66) and Bhuwan Nagarkoti (69) shared the third position at two-under 134, while Dhana Bahadur Thapa (72) is fifth at one-over 137. Bhuwan and Dhana shared the first round lead at three-under 65. Rame Magar is sixth at 138 after he shot 69, while Ram Krishna Shrestha (73), Rabi Khadka (69) and Bikash Adhikari (65) shared the seventh place at four-over 140. Chuda Bahadur Bhandari (72) is 10th at 142.
Jayaram played one-under 33 on the front nine with the help of a birdie on the fourth hole. He then carded four-under 30 on the back nine that included birdies on the 10th, 13th, 15th and 18thholes. Sanjay took the turn at four-under 30 and carded one-under 33 on the back nine. He carded birdies on the first, second, fourth and ninth holes. On the back nine, Sanjay carded birdies on the 10th, 13th and 18th holes and faced a double bogey on the 11th hole.
A total of 22 professional golfers survived the cut which was applied at 17-over 153. Deepak Magar, Pradeep Kumar Lama, Pashupati Sharma, Surya Prasad Sharma, Prasanna Upreti, Dipendra Rayamajhi, Prabhat Kumar Rajbahak, Sachin Prasad Bhattarai, Ashish Pariyar, Krishna Man Rajbahak, Shiva Ram Paudel and Bal Bhadra Rai made it to the final two rounds.
Six amateur golfers also made it to the final rounds. Mithun Rai carded one-over 69 for the total score of five-under 141 to take three-stroke lead over Shiva Kumar Majhi and Santosh Rokka. Overnight leader Jiwan Rai, Phuntsok N Lama and Rohit Acharya are the other amateur golfers who made the cut.
The event, organized by Nepal PGA under the sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd, carries a total purse of Rs 400,000 and the winner will bag a cheque of Rs. 75,000, Runner up will take home Rs. 46,000 and third place will earn Rs. 31,500. Others in the top 21 will also receive their share of cash prizes.