Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra continued his title defence at the Hero Indian Open with a gritty display in Gurgaon on Friday. Image courtesy HIO.
By Rahul Banerji
Defending champion Eugenio Chacarra continued to make steady progress at the Hero Indian Open, climbing to the top of the leaderboard with a battling display in Gurgaon on Friday.
The Spaniard, who turned 26 last week, shot a 3 under par 69 at the DLF Golf and Country Club to tally 8 under 136 after two rounds.
That had him one shot up the road from red-hot South African Casey Jarvis who fired a blistering 8 under 64, the day’s best card. to total 7 under 137.
Another in-form South African, M.J. Daffue (71-67), was a further stroke behind on 6 under 138 with a tie for fourth place on 5 under 139 between overnight leader Frederik Schott (66-73) of Germany, England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Jakob Slov Olesen of Denmark.
Only Schott had wrapped up his second round with the other two stranded on 14 completed holes when fading light forced the remaining field back to the clubhouse.
The home challenge, however, continued to fade at the National Open with only Om Prakash Chouhan (73-71) and young Manoj S. (76-70) set to make the cut which is currently projected to fall at 4 four 148.
Best-placed of the 30-strong Indian contingent overnight, Veer Ahlawat plummeted out of contention with a 6 over 78 on the day. Other fancied names including Yuvraj Sandhu, Shaurya Bhattacharya, Rayhan Thomas, Angad Cheema all joined the DLF player on the sidelines.
Big shock
Possibly the biggest shock was Shubhankar Sharma’s failing to qualify for the weekend with rounds of 77 and 74 (7 over 151) in T86 alongside Cheema, Kshitij Naved Kaul and Rohan Dhole Patil.
But former DP World PGTI Order of Merit champion Chouhan of Mhow put in a late flurry to climb the leaderboard as did event debutant Manoj.
Another first-timer as a professional, Kartik Singh (73-76), however could not sustain his first day run and missed out by one stroke at 5 over 149 alongside Khalin Joshi and Dhruv Sheoran.
There was an 80-minute stoppage in play due to the threat of lightning and 30 golfers were still out on the course play was suspended at 6:37 pm.
Chouhan, 39, a winner of 12 titles including one last month on the DP World PGTI, dropped three shots in his first six holes but bounced back with five birdies between holes nine and 14.
“My tee shots and approach shots have been excellent so far this week,” Chouhan said later.
“I’ve hardly missed a fairway in the first two rounds. Today I excelled with the sand wedge which set up a few short birdie putts for me.
“The only issue has been the inconsistency with my putting. I started conservatively today but after the initial bogeys, decided to return to my natural attacking style which helped me gain a lot of ground.”
In-form South African Casey Jarvis returned the second day’s best card at the Hero Indian Open on Friday. Image courtesy HIO.
Key feature
Added Bangalore golfer Manoj, “My ball-striking was the key in the second round as I made most fairways and greens.
“I didn’t make a single birdie yesterday, so I’m proud of the way I fought back today. I also didn’t let the two bogeys on the back-nine bother me too much and came back well thereafter.”
Fort Chacarra, it has been all about tapping into his 2025 performance. “Like I said in the start of the week, I think the good vibes when I got here, the good memories came up.
“It’s been a great two days, a great group obviously. Casey (Jarvis) and Francesco (Molinari) are great guys and tremendous players. Casey showed us all today on how to score, and it was fun to watch.”
“Obviously, every time I tee off, I want to win. That’s that way I have been since I was little and that’s the goal.”
Jarvis, a two-time DP World Tour winner already this year, made full use of greens softened by overnight rain. “I can’t count the feet of putts I made today, but I know it is a whole lot.
“ I think I’m just running on confidence at the moment. Think my game’s in a good place and, I’m playing really well.
Tough track
“And looking at the DLF, it’s one of the hardest you’ll see all year and I look forward to somewhere like Augusta and I see a comparison.”
Added Daffue (71-67), DP World PGTI Open winner last week at the Classic course, “This course is a different best, and I played very noce golf, got the ball in front of me the whole time and made three putts over 30 feet.
“I’ve been reading the greens well and rolling it really well. Enjoying the really fast pace of the greens and yeah, you know, it’s mentally tiring.
“Every single shot, every single hole, you can’t let go. You can’t think there’s anything to it. So, I’m very pleased.”
Also read: Schott, Chacarra set a hot pace at Hero Indian Open
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