Bhullar ensures weekend action at Italian Open, Chawrasia likely to miss out

The nine-time Asian Tour player, Bhullar, produced a fine effort to go with his first round 68 to get to 7-under and was just outside the top-30 with a lot of players yet to finish their second round.

Brescia: Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a 3-under 69 in the second round to ensure he is part of the weekend action at the Italian Open.

The nine-time Asian Tour player, Bhullar, produced a fine effort to go with his first round 68 to get to 7-under and was just outside the top-30 with a lot of players yet to finish their second round.

Starting from the first tee, Bhullar got off to a fine start with a birdie on the first but did not have any more on the front nine, though he did drop a shot on the ninth.

Gaganjeet Bhullar

A birdie on 11th followed by another on 13th got him to 2-under for the day. A bogey on 15th was a setback, but back-to-back birdies on 16th and 17th gave him a round of 69.

Bhullar was sure to make his first cut since golf started after the pandemic halted the sport in March. He has missed the cuts in the last four tournaments,

SSP Chawrasia was struggling to make the cut as he was one-under through 16 holes, but his first round 74, which saw a double bogey on 18th, will prove costly.

Laurie Canter, who shot 12-under 60 on the first day, knew it would be difficult to follow up his first round card, but did well to shoot 4-under 68 and reach 16-under.

He also dropped his first bogey, ironically, on par-5 11th, after four birdies on the front nine. He closed the day with a birdie on 18th.

Ross McGowan, who shot 66 on the first day, added 64 on the second day, and moved up sharply to 14-under and into second place, while Dean Burmester (64-68) was third at 12-under.

Joachim Hansen, who had 64 on the first day, was 3-under through 17 holes, with a total of 11-under and he had one more hole to play.