Ajeetesh Sandhu lie 20th at midway stage in Japan, Rahil Gangjee misses out
Indian golfer Ajeetesh Sandhu made the cut with a solid one-under 69 but compatriot Rahil Gangjee missed out on weekend action a stroke at the Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup here on Friday.
Sandhu, winner of a Japan Challenge Tour event in 2017, is now one-under for 36 holes and lies T-20 after two rounds. He had scored even par 70 in the first round.
India’s other player in the field, Gangjee, winner of a Panasonic Open Japan in 2018, however, missed the cut one shot despite a valiant finish with two birdies in last three holes.
Bogeys around the middle of the round on ninth and 10th, cost him heavily. He was T-64th as Top-60 and ties made the cut.Sandhu had two birdies against one bogey and at T-20 he is well placed to make a bid for a solid Top-10 or better finish.
Japan’s young new star Kaito Onishi added a three-under-par 67 to his opening day 65 to take the clubhouse lead at the Oarai Golf Club, near Tokyo.
Onishi, joint overnight leader with countryman Hiroshi Iwata, began on hole 10 and impressively toured the back nine in four-under with birdies on 10, 11, 15 and 18, and then reached 10-under for the tournament with a birdie on the third, before dropping shots on five and nine.
Onishi leads two as Rikuya Hoshino (67-67), Yuki Inamori (70-64) and Todd Sinnott of Australia (66-68) were tied second at 6-under. Shugo Imahira (66-69) is fifth.
The 23-year-old Onishi, who is from Nagoya, turned professional last year after graduating from the University of Southern California, but he has been quick to adjust to professional golf. Most noticeably he was fourth in the ISPS HANDA Championship last month.
