RIYADH, Dec 5: Gaganjeet Bhullar was the sole Indian golfer to make the 36-hole cut at the Saudi International as Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma missed it here on Thursday.
Bhullar added 4-under 67 at the Par-71 Riyadh Golf Club to get to 4-under for two rounds as Lahiri (73-67) missed it by one. Sharma (71-71) fell three shots short.
American Peter Uihlein took another step towards securing The International Series Rankings after finishing in a share of the halfway lead.
Uihlein (65-65) was one of the four co-leaders with the others being Australian Cam Smith (67-64), Chilean Joaquin Niemann (65-66) and American Logan McAllister (68-63).
Uihlein won the International Series Qatar last week to take over at the top of the rankings for the first time this year and is clearly still on point – shooting a six-under-par 65 today to move to 11-under.
First-round leaders Chang Wei-lun from Chinese-Taipei and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana fell with rounds of 73 and are five under.
Uihlein, also a winner at the International Series England in August, uncharacteristically dropped his only two shots on two of the par fives, normally bread and butter for the big hitter, but he chipped in for a birdie on 16 to catch the leaders.
Smith is looking for his first victory over 72 holes since his win at the Australian PGA Championship at the end of 2022 and is well placed to achieve that heading into the next two rounds.
American John Catlin, who wrapped up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title last week in Qatar, is in second place on the rankings and has given himself an outside chance of overtaking Uihlein. (PTI)
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