New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) Shiv Kapur and Karandeep Kochhar, two of the Indian Golf Premier League’s (IGPL) prominent performers, made the halfway cut and earned places in the weekend rounds of the DP World India Championship.
They were two of the three IGPL players who teed off at the event and survived a demanding test at Delhi Golf Club to finish exactly on the cut line at even-par 144.
Both shot 72 in each of their two rounds. The third IGPL star, Sachin Baisoya, missed the cut.
Sachin Baisoya came in as a replacement for 11-time Asian Tour winner and five-time IGPL winner, Gaganjeet Bhullar, who had back pain.
At the top, Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra continued his impressive record in India, taking a one-shot halfway lead at 10-under-par 134. After opening with a 67, he followed up with another three-under 67, despite dropping a shot late in his second round.
India has been a happy hunting ground for Chacarra, who has one victory and two other top-five finishes in four appearances in the country.
Scotland’s Scott Jamieson was second at nine-under 135, while five players Angel Hidalgo, Adrian Meronk, Joost Luiten, Thomas Detry and Joel Girrbach shared third place at eight-under.
Rory McIlroy moved to six-under 138, four shots behind Chacarra, while defending champion Tommy Fleetwood was five-under. Five of the seven Major champions in the field made the cut.
Shiv Kapur and Karandeep Kochhar’s progress was significant for the IGPL, whose leading players have been using the league to sharpen their games against strong domestic and international opposition.
Shiv Kapur finished third at the RVR Delhi Blue Bulls event earlier this month, while Karandeep Kochhar was runner-up to Gaganjeet Bhullar at the Krishna IGPL Invitational in Hyderabad last week.
Both have now carried that competitive form into a $4 million championship featuring some of the biggest names in world golf, including six-time Major winner Rory McIlroy.
Shiv Kapur, a three-time Asian Tour winner whose success includes an Asian Tour title at Delhi Golf Club in 2017, drew on his familiarity with the course to negotiate the cut. He carded successive rounds of 72, closing his second round with a birdie on Friday.
Karandeep Kochhar, who won an IGPL event in the UAE last year and claimed the Asian Development Tour’s Red Sea Open in 2025, also returned two rounds of 72 to make the weekend.
Both are tied 63rd, alongside Saptak Talwar (71-73), who also finished at level par. The three will be looking to climb the leaderboard over the final 36 holes and make their presence felt in an international field.
Om Prakash Chouhan remained the leading Indian, tied 29th at four-under 140 after rounds of 68 and 72. He recovered from an early double bogey when he resumed his weather-delayed second round on Saturday morning.
Yuvraj Sandhu produced the most dramatic Indian recovery, shooting 68 after an opening 75.
Three-over for the tournament after his first seven holes, he made seven birdies in his final 10 holes, including four in the last five, to finish at one-under 143 and was T-53 after 36 holes, alongside the experienced Anirban Lahiri, whose last worldwide victory came at Delhi Golf Club in 2015. Lahiri (70-73) was also at one-under and T-53.
For Shiv Kapur and Karandeep Kochhar, the weekend is more than an opportunity to improve their positions. It is a chance for two of the IGPL’s established names to show that performances on the league circuit can translate into a strong showing when the world’s best come to India.
–IANS
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