Johannesburg, April 17 (IANS) Udayan Mane, who shot a flawless 7-under 65 on the first day, went one better on the second as he added an 8-under 64 that included a hole-in-one in the second round at the IGPL Invitational South Africa.
Playing at the iconic Royal Johannesburg’s West Course, Olympian Mane was bogey-free for the second day in a row and moved to 15-under and was the only player in double digits under par.
Mane is now six shots ahead of the field as he seeks his maiden AM Green IGPL title. Trailing Mane in tied second place is a highly motivated trio of Manav Shah (65-70), Pukhraj Singh Gill (66-69) and Gaganjeet Bhullar (67-68). Yet each of them knows that making up six shots on the focused and in-form Mane will be a tough task.
Local South African star Musiwalo Nethunzwi (69-67) was solely fifth, while rookie pro Danish Verma (70-67) and another South African golfer, Alessio Graziani (72-65) were tied for sixth place.
One of the three first-day leaders, Milind Soni, suffered a mid-round lapse with a bogey-double bogey show on the 11th and the 12th and carded 73 as he dropped to tied eighth alongside Raghav Chugh (69-69) and Karandeep Kochhar (67-71) at 6-under total.
Last week’s runner-up Veer Ganapathy (70-70) was tied 11th with Harshjeet Singh Sethie (70-70), Varun Parikh (70-70) and left-handed Kartik Sharma (69-71) a 4-under total.
The scoring has been rather low with 27 players at par or better after 36 holes and there is one more round to go in event.
Mannat Brar (74-69) was the best placed woman player at T-21, as Vidhatri Urs (72-72) slipped to T-25.
Beginning the second day on the Par-5 first, Mane, opened with an eagle and then shot a hole-in-one on the Par-3 fifth as he went to 4-under in very quick time. Two two-shot gains in a matter of five holes took Mane way ahead.
Another gain on the ninth saw him turn in 5-under. Three more birdies on the back nine gave him a superb 8-under card that carried him to 15-under.
Mane is coming of a third place in Mauritius and his game has been looking sharp. A natural long-hitter, the big-built Mane is also reaping benefits of a much sharper short game.
Manav Shah, who contended in the opening event in Chandigarh, seemed to be carrying on from where he left with a 65 on the first day. He birdied the first, fourth and the seventh to go 3-under for the front nine and when he added a fourth birdie it seemed he might give Mane a run.
But three dropped shots in four holes with uncharacteristic errors saw him fall before a closing bogey provided some relief. Yet with a 70 in second round and a total of 9-under he finds himself six back.
Gill was 4-under for the front nine, but two bogeys on the back nine pulled him back. He closed with a birdie on the 18th, which played as one of the easiest holes on the day.
Bhullar is always a threat in any event. More so in recent times in AM Green IGPL. Winner of three events, he has already won once in 2026. After a 67 on Day 1, he added a 68 to stay in the frame. He knows he is six behind but as he added his course also gives low scores. So, a low score from Bhullar and an error two from Mane could open the contest and add to the excitement.
Mane’s hole in one was the first of the event and it caused quite excitement. But before the day was out, Ranjit Singh landed an ace on the Par-3 16th later in the day. Ranjit (69-73), however, was back in T-17th place at 2-under total.
Last week’s winner Sachin Baisoya had a rough day. He dropped back-to-back bogeys early on the third and the fourth and later double bogeyed the 10th. He ended with a 2-over 74 card and was T-17, but is capable of hauling himself into the Top 10 with a good final round.
In the team competition, despite Mane’s superb efforts, Green Fuels Hyderabad were on top with fine performances by all four players –Shah, Verma, Graziani, and Soni. With top two cards counting each day, Green Fuels were 18-under and 10 shots ahead of Atri Mumbai, who have Mane in their team. The third-place team is Honer Gurugram, spearheaded by Pukhraj Singh Gill.
–IANS
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