Chowrasia tied 13th; Kapur, Jyoti miss cut

WENTWORTH - India’s Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia added a second round 73 to his first round 67 at the BMW PGA Championship golf to keep himself in line for his first top-10 since his maiden win on the European Tour two years ago.

Chowrasia, with a total of two-under 140, was tied 13th and four behind leader Luke Donald of England, who had rounds of 68 and 68 on the first two days.

India’s other two challengers made an early exit. Shiv Kapur improved on his first round 79 by 11 shots when he shot 68, but the gap was far too much and he missed the cut at five-over 147 in tied 91st. Jyoti Randhawa with 74 and 74 was tied 100th also missed the cut, which came at one-over 143.

Chowrasia, who had five birdies and one bogey on the first day, had no birdies on the second. His two bogeys came on the ninth and 11th for the 73.

Kapur had five birdies and two bogeys in a fine round, but it came a bit too late. Jyoti had two birdies, three bogeys and one double bogey in his 74.

A second successive 68 enabled Donald take over at the top from fellow Englishman Danny Willett.

By steering clear of trouble on the much harder West Course the 32- year-old has so far had only one bogey in 36 holes - and his five on the 12th would have been a par a year ago.

Without a win in Europe for six years, this is the first of a three-week break from the US PGA Tour to try to boost his prospects of regaining his Ryder Cup spot after wrist surgery kept him out last time.

With tournament debutant Willett adding a one over 72 to his opening 65, Donald leads by one from not only the 22 year old from Sheffield, but also last year’s runner-up Ross Fisher (70) and South African James Kingston (69).