Shiva Ram surges to lead

Defending champion Shiva Ram Shrestha carded two-over 72 to climb atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Surya Nepal Western Open golf tournament at the par-70 Himalayan Golf Course in Pokhara on Wednesday.

The Nepal No 1 Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) pro finished the day at seven-over 147, one stroke ahead of Tribhuvan Army Officers’ Golf  Club pro Sanjay Lama. Lama carded two-over 72 in the sixth event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2013-14, on Wednesday.

Another RNGC golf er and Nepal No 2 Rabi Khadka was third at 10-over 150 after carding even-par 72. First-round leader Ramesh Nagarkoti slipped to fourth with a total score of 151. Nagarkoti carded nine-over 79 in the second round.

Ram Krishna Shrestha and Umesh Nagarkoti are tied for fifth at 152, while CB Bhandari, Surya Prasad Sharma and Deepak Thapa Magar share seventh spots at 153. First-round joint leader Suman Rai of Dharan and fellow local pro Bhuwan Gurung share 10th position at 155.

Shiva Ram carded identical one-over 36 on both the halves. On the front nine, the Nepal No 1 dropped a shot on the third hole. His back nine card include a birdie and a double bogey. Lama played a poor round of four-over 39 on the front nine but amended his mistakes in the back nine card of two-under 33.

In all 22 pros made the cut for the money-making final two rounds. Ram Thapa, Mani Rai, Ramesh Adhikari, Sabin Sapkota, Dhruba KC, Tirtha Poudel, Tham Bahadur Rai, Dhana Thapa, Sunil Mizar and Ashish Pariyar were the other pros to make the cut while Uttam KC and Prasanna Upreti were the two casualties.

Local golf er Sanjeev CK leads the amateur category with the total score of nine-over 149. Arun Tamang and Dinesh Prajapati are tied for second, four shots adrift of the leader. Shiva Raj Majhi and Bikash Bogati share the fourth position at 157. Also making the cut are Sonam Bhujel, Jiwan Rai, Ajeet BK, Bhuwan Gurung, Maj LP Gurung and Kiran Subba.

The 14th edition of the Western Open is organised by Nepal PGA under the sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd. The prize money has been raised this year to Rs 514,250. Top three pros will receive Rs 95,000, Rs 60,000, and Rs 44,000 respectively. A Pro-Am tournament is scheduled for Sunday after the four-day main event.