The second round of the Hero Indian Open was suspended, when the afternoon matches were on the second nine holes and most of the field still completed their eighteen holes today. A storm with lightning and thunder in Delhi has postponed the mid-match guillotine until tomorrow, with some players still in limbo. In front of everyone, Keita Nakajima takes off, with the Japanese replicating yesterday’s 65 and looking down on everyone with a score of -14 at the halfway point of the match. More foul than yesterday but still within very high in the rankings is the Italian Matteo Manassero.
Seven birdies for the Japanese in the first eleven holes todaythen three bogeys in a row between the 14th and the 16th made him slip a little further back, only to recover with three strokes gained on the last two flags on Friday and take the lead with a two-stroke lead. Nakajima’s first pursuer is Romain Langasque, the Frenchman is alone at -12, with the same peculiarity of having made exactly the same score as yesterday’s round (-6). One shot behind is Manassero (-11), who gives up the lead in the tournament but remains absolutely in the fight for the title.
The blue made a few more errors today compared to yesterday’s bogey free round, above all the double bogey on the par 5 of the 18th, but there was no shortage of very classy shots. The Veronese today closed in 68 shots (-4), for an overall total of -11. They are well two eagles scored by the very talented blue, one on the friendly par 5 of the 8th (4 strokes gained in two days), and the other on the par 4 of the 17th with a long-range iron that found directly the center of the hole. The first three completed their scheduled 36 holes, while in fourth place, with a score of -10, in addition to the Frenchman Jeon Weon Ko which in turn finished the tour, there is the Dutch Joost Luiten, at -3 for the day after 15 holes.
On the par 72 course of the DLF Golf & Country Club in New Delhi in sixth place is, at -9, the first of the hosts, Veer Ahlawat, while in seventh place with a score of -8 goes to the American Johannes Veerman. In eighth place, tied at -7, already seven shots behind the lead, a large group completes the top-10. As for the Italians, Lorenzo Scalise and Francesco Laporta are also certain to play this weekendboth in 31st place with a total of -4, and Edoardo Molinari50th at -2 after a very good partial score of -5 achieved today.
The one who will have to fight and earn at least one shot is Andrea Pavan, currently 76th at +1 but still with three holes to play to complete the second round. Guido Migliozzi is practically out instead (93rd at +3), also with 16, 17 and 18 still to finish, while he is sure of Filippo Celli’s exclusion (134th at +12). Worth mentioning is the feat of Espen Kofstad, the Norwegian, after yesterday’s 81 (+9), today achieved the course record in 62 shots, to secure the weekend with -10 for the day and a 19 shot difference compared to yesterday. The second lap will resume at 7.30 local time, in the middle of the Italian night, while the third will not start before 10.20 in India.
