Chawrasia Breaks Logjam at Indian Open


SSP Chawrasia broke a five-way tie for the lead in the Hero Indian Open after carding a 4-under 67 in the European Tour event at Delhi Golf Club.

Chawrasia, a two-time winner on the tour, opened with a 65 on Thursday to share the top spot with Canada's Richard T. Lee, Thailand's Chapchai Nirat, Bangladeshi Siddikur Rahman and Swede Joakim Lagergren.

But the others didn't keep up as Chawrasia's 67 put him at 10-under 132, a stroke ahead of Bangladeshi Siddikur Rahman (68). After six birdies and no bogeys Thursday, the 36-year-old Chawrasia enjoyed another spotless outing with four birdies. He hasn't dropped a shot in 36 holes.

"I'm playing very well the last two days," said Chawrasia, who won the 2008 Indian Masters and the 2011 Avantha Masters. "I've played here many times so I know how to play on this course; this is the first time I'm bogey free after 36 holes.

"I feel good and aggressive - I will do the same on the last two days. I'm very happy because I saved a lot of pars: it wasn't easy to keep the bogeys away from my card, I had to make a lot of saves.

"It is tough when the wind changes direction but I know how to handle it here. I played well through the 2014 season and I started well this year as well, so I'm feeling very confident. I'm very excited for the next two days."

Lagergren and Nirat are four strokes back after 71s. American Paul Peterson (68) and England's Richard McEvoy (67) moved into a tie for fifth at 137.

Lee had a 75 to drop down into a tie for 13th at 140.

Recent Maybank Malaysian Open winner Anirban Lahiri moved into a tie for seventh at 138 thanks to the day's low round of 65; he's tied with Prayad Marksaeng.

Marksaeng and Abhinav Lohan had the shots of the day; each had holes-in-one, making it 15 aces on the European Tour so far this year.

The halfway cut was set at 2-over 144.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015012/leaderboard/index.html.