Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], May 14 : A bogey-free two-under 70 handed Arjun Dahiya a one-shot lead in Category 'A' (15-17 years) on day two of the IGU Andhra Pradesh Junior Boys Golf Championship at the East Point Golf Club.
A second straight 70 took the 16-year-old's two-day aggregate to four-under 140. Bengaluru's Ishnidh Virdi returned a one-under 71 card to occupy the tied second spot with overnight leader Vihaan Jain at three-under 141. The latter lost his way on the return journey, dropping four shots for a two-over 74.
Chaitanya Pandey (70) was one shot behind in fourth place. Order of Merit leader Harjai Milkha Singh (73) was three shots further back at one-over 145.
Dahiya was on a song from the get-go. He demonstrated high accuracy off the tee with solid drives and hit his approaches well to give himself plenty of birdie opportunities. Unfortunately, a cold putter prevented him from converting three early birdie chances. He suffered a frustrating lip-out on the 12th hole, missed a manageable birdie from 15 feet away on the 15th and failed to drain a 20-footer on the 17th hole.
A 10th-tee starter, Dahiya picked up a shot on the 11th, nearly scoring a hole-in-one with his pitching wedge tee shot. After missing several opportunities to pick up shots, the Gurgaon teen drained a 10-foot left-to-right curler on the seventh for his second birdie.
Virdi, who got off to a poor start, turned things around on his back nine to snap at the leader's heels. Two over after nine holes, the Bengalurean birdied the first, sixth and seventh holes for a 71.
In Category 'B' (13-14), Pandey took his two-day total to two-under 142 for a whopping nine-shot lead over Aditya Misra (78).
Delhi's Shan Alvi (75) led the Category 'C' (11-12) field by three shots at five-over 149.
Leading scores (after 36 holes): Category 'A' (15-17 years): 140: Arjun Dahiya (Har, 70, 70); 141: Ishnidh Virdi (Kar, 70, 71), Vihaan Jain (Del, 67, 74); 142: Chaitanya Pandey (Del, 72, 70); 145: Harjai Milkha Singh (Chd, 72, 73); 146: Shashank Sachin Gadre (Mah, 72, 74).
Category 'B' (13-14): 142: Chaitanya Pandey (Del, 72, 70); 153: Aditya Misra (Del, 75, 78); 154: Aman Oswal (Mah, 72, 82); 155: Saatvic Kumar Singh (Tel, 78, 77), Jaibir Singh Kang (Har, 77,78).
Category 'C' (13-14): 149: Shan Alvi (Del, 74, 75); 152: Drona Singh Dhull (Har, 76, 76); 160: Kabir Sachdev (Har, 84, 76); Vivaan Singh (Kar, 81, 80).
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