Indian Open: Nakajima in joint lead with Chacarra

GURUGRAM: Is this some other tournament? We wouldn’t be surprised if you asked that question after looking at Friday’s leaderboard of the Hero Indian Open, having happily checked the standings in the morning with Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu lodged in tied-4th place, a stroke behind the leaders.
As the undulating greens conspired with the swirling wind, the grind took a toll on the mind, body and soul. Marcel Siem, the champion of 2023 who had famously downed beers overnight to rise up with a Cup that cheers, retired after five bogeys in 8 holes.
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And what of the overnight leaders, who were at 4-under?
Marcus Armitage scored 6-over 78 to be placed 25th; Marcus Kinhult, a 3-over 75 to at least stay 8th; Nicolas Colsaerts ventured into the 80s to drop 58 places. Ajeetesh had a 5-over-77 round for T-25th slot. And who is the leader now in this $2.25 million event? Co-leaders, to be precise, although both were threatening to nose ahead in the race to the crown. And the duo knows how to take care of proceedings on this devil of a course.
Defending champion Keita Nakajima imperiously conducted a four-stroke wire-to-wire victory last year, and his putter was hot on Friday as he started his flight of fancy with 7 birdies in 9 holes. For those who love stats, his 29-stroke front-nine was 8.83 strokes better than the field average of 37.83.

Former LIV player Eugenio Chacarra’s first taste of the DLF G&CC’s Gary Player course was at the International Series event here last month, and he had seized the lead then in the opening round.
“I saw how hard the course gets on the weekend. I think today was harder,” the man from Madrid said after his 2-under round.
Jumping 10 places to the joint lead at 4-under, Chacarra will walk out on Saturday with the man of the moment when the clock strikes one. Nakajima started the day six shots adrift of the lead at tied-67th.
“My mindset changed today. Me and my caddy were talking about playing it like a fun course. Just keep patient, and keep smiling,” the Japanese said.
With grins and nods, the 24-year-old began with a birdie from 5 feet and his highlights in the early afternoon were a 400-feet on the 3rd, a chip-in on the 4th and downhill left-to-right on the 5th. The man from Saitama had only started soaring.
Two more birdies on 6th and 7th made it a high-five. A pause for a par, and he was at it again on the 9th.
As the sun scorched the fairways and greens, the course hardened. The back-nine wasn’t so fruitful with three bogeys conceded and two birdies gained.
“Maybe, I will feel a little nervous tomorrow," he admitted after his 66.
Anything can happen.
Chacarra, who was once No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf rankings during college life at Oklahama State, said: “I tried to just stick to my plan but the course keeps you second-guessing. We were just hitting wedges and they were skipping sometimes six, seven steps past the pin.”
The Indian challenge
A dozen Indians led by Gaganjeet Bhullar (72-73) made the cut on a day when only 11 players carded under par. The 12 Indians to make the cut are Bhullar (T-20), Aman Raj, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Shiv Kapur (all T-25), Veer Ahlawat and Kshitij Naveed Kaul (both T-31), OP Chouhan, Sachin Baisoya and Jairaj Sandhu (all T-41); Saptak Talwar and Shubhankar Sharma (both T-52) and Shaurya Bhattacharya (T-58).
The cut fell at 6-over and 68 players made the cut. Among those missing out by one shot was amateur Kartik Singh (76-75) and Rayhan Thomas (72-79). SSP Chawrasia (72-80) missed by two.
Round 2 leaderboard
-4 Eugenio Chacarra (Esp) 70-70; Keita Nakajima (Jpn) 74-66
-2 J Dantorp (Swe) 71-71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71-71, M Jordan (Eng) 69-73, A Pavan (Ita) 73 69, J Luiten (Ned) 69-73.