2010 Viking Classic: Two sore Indians fail to shine in the second round
The Indian, Arjun Atwal failed to make his mark in the second round of 2010 Viking Classic despite claiming an early lead in the Friday's round.
Atwal had earlier started the first round with a 66, in the end joining the pack of six players but by Friday evening, he slipped in the back-nine and carded an even-par 72. He claimed the seventh spot on the leader board along with five other players.
The player looked devastated after the second round with an aggregate of four-under 138 strokes. He started the round with a steady pace and pared all of the holes till he birdied the 7th. After the half session, Atwal stood at one under thanks
to that birdie.
The back nine became a death pit for the player as he stumbled on the 14th and 16th hole. To offset the damage, Atwal smashed a birdie on the closing par-five hole and wrapped the round safely with a par.
Meanwhile, the other Indian in frazzle was Jeev Milkha Singh, who posted one-over 73 and took the tied 53rd spot with the help of three birdies, one bogey and one double bogey.
At the top were South Africa’s Brendon De Jonge and America’s Bill Haas. Both carded their second 66 to share the lead with a total of 12-under 132 strokes at the Annandale Golf Club where the 2010 Kodak Challenge Viking Classic is currently in progress.
The Kodak Challenge is one-of-its-kind competition for PGA Tour players as they must play at least 18 of the 30 Kodak Challenge holes to win it. A player's lowest score relative to par on his best 18 holes gets counted and the winner bags US$ 1 million along
with the trophy.
This time, Kodak Challenge eyed Annandale Golf Club where players are to take a shot at the 532-yard par-5 18th holes. Water as well as its length is the biggest challenge at this hole. The green is huge. Therefore, the 3-wood or long-iron is the ultimate
preference for the second shot.
Tim Petrovic became the Kodak Challenge player on Friday as he carded a six foot birdie on the 18th hole to move to 12-under-par. He had earlier double bogeyed the same hole on Thursday. Petrovic was one of the few players to have carded a birdie
on the monster hole. He was later joined by Bill Hass, who carded his second birdie of both the rounds to vault his name in the Kodak Challenge.
On Friday, Steve Wheat croft also became the player to gather the lime light as he managed to reach the pin of the 18th in two shots. As for the leaders of the Friday round, De Jonge teed off in the morning when the weather was suitable for low
scoring. He stepped out of the clubhouse and smashed six birdies right in the face of six other players, who held the Thursday round’s lead. De Jonge said, "Obviously, being first out was a big advantage as well. It was fun. It was a good round.”
Hass, yet another last day’s leader answered the Zimbabwean with the replicate number of birdies and marched his way to the top of the leader board. Earlier on Thursday, Hass had carded four birdies and one eagle to join five early leaders despite the troubling
weather conditions. It rained and the wind blew incredibly fast during the first round of the Viking Classic.
But weather conditions were relevantly better than Thursday and despite the advantage, both the Indians failed to deliver a modest performance in the second round. However, two more rounds are still to go. Let’s see what spot the Indians choose for themselves
in the end.
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