Golf: Chandigarh’s Harjai Milkha leads, Nihal second on another good day for Indians

Harjai with his caddie


Chandigarh based Harjai Milkha Singh finished strongly with three birdies in the last five holes to card 2-under 70 and take sole lead in Boys 13 Category of the US Kids Golf European Championship in Edinburgh (Scotland),.

Harjai, leads at 2-under 142. With 72-70, he is two ahead of three others at tied second.

While Harjai is in sole lead in Boys 13, another one from Chandigarh, Nihal Cheema, is Tied-second in Boys Under 7. Bengaluru’s Adit Veeramachaneni is sole third in Boys 9 section. Vihaan Jain is Tied-fifth in Boys 13.

All three Indian girls figured in Top-seven. First day co-leader Mahreen Bhatia slipped from Tied first to Tied third with a 75 in Girls 13-14 category at the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club.

Naina Kapoor (81-85) rose from Tied-eighth to Tied-fifth in the Girls 11 section also at Royal Musselburgh Golf Club and Ananyaa Sood (77-75) slipped from Tied-sixth to seventh in Girls 12 at Glen Golf Club.

In Boys 13, one of the most competitive sections, Harjai was 2-over after seven holes with one birdie and three bogeys, but a birdie on eighth saw him turn in one-over.

With one more round to go Harjai is two ahead of three others, American Colin McAskin (73-71), South Africa’s Jordan Botha (75-69) and England’s Kodi Dean of (77-67).

In Boys 13, Vihaan Jain stayed in Tied-fifth place with a second round 72 after a first round 72 as he dropped two late bogeys. The third player in the section, Srivastava was hit with a triple bogey on the closing 18th as he suffered multiple lipouts on the final hole and ended with a second straight 75 to drop to Tied-11th.

Nihal rose from Tied-fifth to sole second at 4-under for two nine-hole rounds. The leader is Thailand-based Sean Wilding (29-37).

Bengaluru’s Adit Veeramachaneni shot a second straight 72 at Musselburgh Golf Club and moved up from fourth to third. He is five behind leader, Belgium’s Victor Bernardini (71-68) and one behind Russian federation’s Dmitri Elhchaninov, who shot 73-70.

In Boys 10 section, Vidit Aggarwal dropped from Tied-third to Tied-13th with 75-83, Manyaveer Bhadoo (82-81) slipped one place from Tied-11th to Tied-12th in Boys 15-18.

Harjai from Boys 13 and Mahreen from Girls 13-14 have also qualified for the International Team for the Van Horn Cup to be held after the individual event.