Louis Phillipe Cup: Mithun Perera ties course-record to lift Ahmedabad

Mumbai: Sri Lankan pro Mithun Perera lifted the spirits in the Navratna Ahmedabad camp with a solid, improved display to finish with a score of 8-under 62 in round two, which helped his team advance to the semi-finals of the Louis Philippe Cup at par-70 BPGC in Chembur today.

The 27-year-old golfer’s blistering performance equalled the course record set by Rahil Gangjee of AVT Kolkata on the opening day of the event yesterday.

Perera’s splendid display boosted Ahmedabad, who were placed fifth after the first round, to the top of the leader board with a two-round nett score of 15-under 265 (133, 132). The other two members of the team, Vikrant Chopra (72, 70) and Vinod Kumar (65, 70) both had par rounds.

Overnight leaders AVT Kolkata, represented by Gangjee, Shankar Das and Chiragh Kumar, finished with an identical total of 15-under 265 (129, 136), but were placed second on a count back.

Gangjee, who had scorched the course with a 62 could only manage a par score of 70, today while Chiragh and Das, both finished with identical scores of 68 each. Puravankara Bangalore, composed of Anirban Lahiri (65-67), M Dharma (66-70) and S Chikkarangappa (66-68), were third with a combined score of 14-under 266 (131-135), while in fourth position was Krrish Colombo who had a nett score of 11-under 269 (131-138).

In the semi-finals tomorrow Ahmedabad would take on Colombo, while Bangalore would clash with Kolkata. “I enjoyed a good round which included a couple of good putts. I played decent golf, but I think I could have done better,” said Perera, who was a member of the 2012 winning team.

Perera, who had a score of 68 in the opening round, played with a higher level of consistency and made a total of nine birdies, six on the front nine and three on the back.

He started with a flourish making a birdie on the first hole and, after a par score on the second hole, he fired successive birdies on the next three holes.

The Royal Colombo Golf Club player produced two more birdies on the seventh and eighth holes and on the return leg birdied the 12th, 16th and 18th holes. The only blemish in this round was when he dropped a shot on the 15th hole, which he regretted later.

“I made a good drive on the 15th, but was a bit unfortunate because the wind slightly changed the flight of the ball,” explained Perera.

Perera stated that he was unaware about being within distance of setting a new course record. “If I knew that the course record was 8-under, I wouldn’t have had a bogey on the 15th. I should have been more careful,” he said.

“But now I want to focus on the remaining rounds and the next two days are important,” he added.

Dev Ellora Laqshya Mumbai had a miserable score of 1-over 141 in the second round for a total score of 4-under 276 and finished at the bottom of nine-team competition and would take no further part in the tournament.

Team standings (Round II) Top four: 15-under 265 - Navratna Ahmedabad 133-132 (Mithun Perera 68-62, Vikrant Chopra 72-70, Vinod Kumar 65-70), AVT Kolkata 129-136 (Rahil Gangjee 62-70, Chiragh Kumar 75-68, Shankar Das 67-68); 14-under 266 - Puravankara Bangalore 131-135 (Anirban Lahiri 65-67, M Dharma 66-70, S Chikkarangappa 66-68); 11-under 269 - Krrish Colombo 131-138 (Himmat Rai 65-69, K Prabagaran 66-69, N Thangaraja 72-70).

Semi-final line-up: Navratna Ahmedabad vs Krrish Colombo AVT Kolkata vs Puravankara Bangalore.

Inter-City Pro-Am scores: 1. Navratna Ahmedabad, 2. Dev Lakshya Ellora Mumbai, 3. DLF Gurgaon.

PTI