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Thailand International Golf: Karandeep Kochhar rises to tied-2nd
Karandeep Kochhar fired a six-under 66 to jump to eight places to tied second spot at the USD 1.5 million Thailand International Golf series
City-based golfer Karandeep Kochhar on Saturday fired a six-under 66 to jump to tied second spot at the USD 1.5 million International Series Thailand at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin.
The 22-year-old’s 66, comprising eight birdies against two bogeys, carried him to 17-under and three shots behind the leader, Thai Phachara Khongwatmai (63), whose sole win on Asian Tour came at the Laguna Phuket Championship last December.
Phachara had nine birdies against no bogeys.
Kochhar, who has three career wins as a pro on the PGTI circuit, is looking for his maiden success on the Asian Tour, where his best has been a tied-second finish at the Panasonic Open in India five years ago.
The Indian opened the day with four birdies in a row and followed up with more on eighth and ninth and also 13th and 18th. Of the four Par-5s, he picked up birdies on three of them. He dropped shots on the 11th and 16th.
Kochhar once again finds himself in a crowded leaderboard, where he is T-2 along with four others—Thai golfers Poosit Supupramai (62) and Itthipat Buranatanyrat (65), American Sihwan Kim (65) and Doyeob Mun (68) from Korea.
Among the other Indians who made the cut, Honey Baisoya (69) is the next best at 13-under and T-24, while Aman Raj (67) is 12-under and T-36, Gaganjeet Bhullar (69) and Ajeetesh Sandhu (69) are T-41. Viraj Madappa (72) is T-53 and S Chikkarangappa (75) is T-63.
