India Championship: Hidalgo, Luiten, Meronk share lead as the event tries to make up for lost time
New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) Angel Hidalgo, Joost Luiten and Adrian Meronk shared the clubhouse lead at the top of a congested leaderboard after day two of the weather-affected India Championship being played in New Delhi.
The tournament was still trying to play catch-up after nearly five hours were lost to storms on the first day, but conditions were perfect as some players faced 36 holes on Friday at the Delhi Golf Club.
Luiten played the most among the leaders as he tackled 34 holes for rounds of 68-68 to get to eight under, while Meronk and Hidalgo both faced 31 holes.
Meronk was five under through four at the end of Thursday but added just one more first-round birdie before following up with a 69, while Hidalgo joined Luiten with rounds of 68-68. Belgian Thomas Detry birdied three of his first six holes in round two to sit alongside the leaders, a shot clear of English pair Todd Clements and Eddie Pepperell.
More than half the field was yet to finish the second round, and 12 players were yet to start their second round.
Eugenio Chacarra was also at seven under through five holes as he seeks a result which could send him to the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings on Sunday.
Om Prakash Chouhan, who played the DP World Tour in 2024 after topping the PGTI Tour Order of Merit in 2023, was still the best Indian on the leaderboard. He had played just two holes, both pars, in the second round after a 68 on the first day. He was provisionally tied 17th.
Two-time winner on the DP World Tour Anirban Lahiri (70-73) was assured of tee times over the weekend. He was tied 46th, as was Saptak Talwar, who shot 71 in the first round and was par through seven holes in the second round.
All three of the clubhouse leaders are enjoying some late-season momentum as we head towards the DP World Tour Play-Offs, with the trio able to look up the Rankings rather than over their shoulders.
Pole Meronk recently won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and he held the solo lead on day two after birdies on the 14th, 17th, first and eighth but dropped his only shot of the week so far on the ninth. “It was a lot of solid golf,” he said. “I’m happy with my position. Obviously a little bit disappointed with the bogey on the last, but it’s still a good round, and I’m happy with the day of work.
Dutchman Luiten also got to nine under with a hat-trick of gains from the 13th and further birdies on the 18th and second. He then made a double on the eighth but bounced straight back from 14 feet on the next.
Luiten said later, “It was good for 17 holes, and then my 17th, the 8th hole, I double-bogeyed, which normally you would say is a birdie hole. I think the long day and the tiredness just got to me a bit at the end, and luckily I could get a birdie on the 9th.”
Hidalgo’s recent runner-up finish at the FedEx Open de France has secured his place in the play-offs, and he made birdies on the first, sixth, seventh, eighth and 14th before bouncing back from a double with a closing gain.
“Pretty good. Especially on this course. It’s pretty tight. I played 31 holes with this weather and this tight course. Pretty happy with the way I’m playing these two rounds, looking forward to seeing the weekend”, Hidalgo said.
–IANS
bsk/
