JAT Sri Lanka Open leader Ahmed shines with hole in one

An eventful Day 2 at the Royal Colombo Golf Club’s course saw the establishment of another record when overnight leader Saqib Syed Ahmed from Bangalore holed his drive in one shot on the 288 yard par 4, sixth hole. 

It was the first time that a player had holed out from the tee. What was most impressive was that the hole in one was achieved in a professional golf tournament.

Ahmed added to his first round 6 under to lead the field after Round 2, on a 7 under total of 135.

Multiple winner on the Asian Tour, Rashid Khan, carded a 68, three under par to be four strokes off the lead. Lalith Kumara placed second with 5 under on Day 1 after a disastrous round and is off the leader board. 

However, seven-time winner of the Sri Lanka Open Anura Rohana returned a two under card to finish tied for third place with defending champion Thangaraja, who was again 1 under par. The best score of the day was 68 (3 under) shared between Rashid Khan, Tissa Chandradasa and Vijitha Bandara. 

Two-time winner Prabagaran carded a quiet 1 under to lie in joint 8th place with Vijitha Bandara. Khalin Joshi returned a two under 69 to be tied in 5th place. Mithun Perera, Sri Lanka’s leading player on the Asian Tour, had an indifferent day, ending tied for 10th place with M. Dharma of India. 

Waseem Rana of Pakistan was tied in 13th place on 146. The field of 90 players was pruned down to 38, with the cut-off implemented at 156. A total of 38 players made it to the final two rounds to be worked off on Thursday and Friday. 

The JAT Sri Lanka Open 2016 seems poised for a great finish with just nine strokes separating the leader and the 10th place player. The title sponsor JAT Holdings and the co-sponsor UTE CAT are highly commended for making it possible to distribute a prize purse of Rs. 2,500,000, laying the platform for a Sri Lanka professional golf tour by 2017.

JAT Sri Lanka Golf Open Championship 2016 Leader Board after Round 2

135 – Syed Saqib Ahmed

139 - Rashid Khan

140 – R. A. Anura Rohana, N. Thangaraja

142 – K. A. Chandradasa, Khalin Joshi, B. A. Sanjeewa

143 – Vijitha Bandara, K. Prabagaran

144 – Mithun Perera, M. Dharma