RAYMOND RUSSELL MOVES UP TO TOP 10 IN INDIA

By NEIL AHERN
European Challenge Tour Press Officer

Raymond Russell launched himself right into contention at the Gujarat Kensville Challenge after a three under par second round of 69 elevated him to tied ninth position, five shots off the lead set by home favourites Shiv Kapur and Rahil Gangjee.

The Edinburgh-born European and Challenge Tour winner began the day five shots off the lead after a one over par opening round of 73, but produced a superb back nine to move to two under par for the tournament and keep himself in the running for the title at Kensville Golf and Country Club in the Gujarat region of India.

After carding a birdie on the second hole, he bogeyed the par five sixth and the par three eighth to reach the turn in 37; but things picked up for Russell as birdies on the tenth, 14th, 15th and 18th holes saw him come home in 32 shots.

“I scored a lot better today,” said the 39 year old. “It’s tricky out there, the greens are firming up so you obviously try and take advantage of the morning tee-off.

“I still had a few loose shots, making six at a par five (sixth hole) is criminal and that frustrated me. I missed a couple of short putts but then got it going again on the back nine, which is nice.

“To be fair, I’ve not really hit it close apart from with my wedge, but it’s pretty hard to get it close. Maybe I’m trying to be too defensive but I’m trying to watch what I’m doing, because if you start going over greens you’re doing well to make bogey. It’s just a case of trying to be sensible.

“My first four rounds in South Africa, I made about 20 birdies and then here I’ve made a few so it’s just a case of cutting out the stupid mistakes. I'm making progress, now I’d just like to go bogey-free at the weekend – that’s the plan.”

It was a good day in all for most of the Scots, as Callum Macaulay and Chris Doak both shot two under par rounds of 70 to climb to joint 20th place on level par overall.

Andrew McArthur and Jack Doherty, however, will fly home disappointed as they both failed to make the cut, McArthur adding an eight over par 80 to his 73 on the first day, while Doherty replicated his five over par first round of 77.
Former top American amateur Peter Uihlein made the cut (149 or better) with a shot to spare on 148 with rounds of 76 and 72.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

Par 144 (2x72)

137 S Kapur (Ind) 69 68, R Gangjee (Ind) 68 69,

138 G Lockerbie (Eng) 69 69, J Dantorp (Swe) 70 68, S Benson (Eng) 70 68,

141 M Kieffer (Ger) 70 71, D Kemmer (USA) 69 72, D Gaunt (Aus) 73 68,

142 C Brazillier (Fra) 72 70, C Paisley (Eng) 72 70, A Snobeck (Fra) 71 71, L Goddard (Eng) 71 71, R Russell (Sco) 73 69, C Lloyd (Eng) 72 70,

143 M Ford (Eng) 72 71, A Hartø (Den) 73 70, B Åkesson (Swe) 70 73, B Barham (Eng) 71 72, P Dwyer (Eng) 71 72,

144 J Gibb (Eng) 72 72, R Singh (Ind) 71 73, C Macaulay (Sco) 74 70, B Parker (Eng) 71 73, S Engell Andersen (Ken) 75 69, J Walters (RSA) 71 73, C Doak (Sco) 74 70, M Carlsson (Swe) 71 73, P Archer (Eng) 73 71, H Bacher (Aut) 70 74,

145 D Singh (Ind) 72 73, O Henningsson (Swe) 73 72, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 74, M Kumar (Ind) 72 73, A Kumar (Ind) 75 70, C Hanson (Eng) 72 73, A Lohan (Ind) 72 73, M Perera (Sri) 73 72,

146 K Kumar (Ind) 73 73, B Chapellan (Fra) 75 71, S Tiley (Eng) 75 71, V Kumar (Ind) 75 71, T Ferreira (RSA) 70 76, M Cryer (Eng) 73 73, A Parr (Can) 74 72, G Bhullar (Ind) 71 75,

147 M Singh Pathania (Ind) 75 72, B An (Kor) 76 71, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 72 75, M Jaini (Ind) 70 77, S Khan (Ind) 72 75

148 P Uihlein (USA) 76 72, B Evans (Eng) 71 77, A Sandhu (Ind) 72 76, A John (Ger) 71 77, J Hansen (Den) 77 71, E Kofstad (Nor) 77 71, F Praegant (Aut) 73 75, Å Nilsson (Swe) 76 72, V Kumar (Ind) 76 72, S Pinckney (USA) 72 76
MISSED THE CUT

149 A Perrino (Ita) 75 74, J Parry (Eng) 73 76, H Kahlon (Ind) 74 75, V Bhandari (Ind) 76 73, C Monasterio (Arg) 76 73,

150 C Kumar (Ind) 71 79, A Sher (Ind) 73 77, A Tiwana (Ind) 74 76, G Mann (Ind) 74 76, K Vasudeva (Ind) 74 76, R Steiner (Aut) 76 74,

151 J Lima (Por) 75 76, G Ghei (Ind) 78 73, R Murthy (Ind) 73 78, H Rai (Ind) 77 74, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 72 79, R Mollah (Ind) 76 75, D Vancsik (Arg) 76 75, S Buhl (Ger) 78 73,

152 J Heath (Eng) 75 77, L Jensen (Den) 76 76, P Relecom (Bel) 78 74,

153 S Kumar (Ind) 72 81, S Das (Ind) 80 73, K Eriksson (Swe) 75 78, M Haines (Eng) 74 79, F McGuirk (Eng) 79 74, A McArthur (Sco) 73 80,

154 F Ali Mollah (Ind) 78 76, M Dharma (Ind) 73 81, J Doherty (Sco) 77 77, D Singh Kullar (Ind) 78 76, O Prakash Chouhan (Ind) 75 79, P Delhi (Ind) 81 73, R Singh (Ind) 78 76, R Bajaj (Ind) 79 75,

156 K Bhasin (Aus) 73 83, N Dawar (Ind) 78 78,

157 R Sharma (Ind) 83 74, A Jha (Ind) 77 80,

158 N Mandal (Ind) 77 81, H Gupta (Ind) 81 77,

159 R Ghotra (Ind) 78 81, C Ford (Eng) 76 83, A Rohana (Sri) 79 80,

163 M Sanju (Ind) 82 81,

167 A Singh (Ind) 81 86,

169 R Khan (Ind) 76 93,

** A Malik (Ind) 72 RT, S Syal (Ind) 75 RT, V Chopra (Ind) 77 RT, G Shergill (Ind) 75 RT, G Singh (Ind) 81 RT, V Singh (Ind) 84 WD,