Gurugram : A whole lot of youngsters turned in excellent cards while others displayed tremendous grit to set up some close battles ahead of the final day of the US Kids Golf Indian Championship.
As many as eight leaders or co-leaders were chased by rivals, who were two shots or less behind the front runners while in the Girls 9-10 Category Rabab Kahlon and Aanya Dandriyal were tied for the lead after two days.
One of the most engaging battles saw Prince Bainsla (68-71) and Kartik Singh (71-69) in a close tussle in Boys 12 section. Bainsla and Kartik indulged in a birdie fest. Bainsla, whose first-round 68 has been the best 18-hole score in relation to par so far, added a 71 with four birdies against three bogeys. Kartik had five birdies and dropped only two bogeys in his 69.
Two more great contests were developing in the Boys 9 Category and in Boys 11. In Boys 9, Adit Veeramachaneni shot a 75 after a first-round 73 and headed the field as Arnav Kumar (75-75) was second with Siddhant Sharma (76-75) a close third. The first-day leader Sohraab Singh Talwar (70-82) slipped to fourth.
Another great battle was developing in the Boys 11 section. Chaitanya Pandey (75-72) moved ahead of overnight co-leader Keiran Gouri (75-73) while Arihan Beri (77-74) moved into the fray with a solid second round of 74. Pandey had a steady round with one birdie and one bogey, while Gouri had four birdies against five bogeys. Beri, who was four-over after 11 holes, recovered well for a 2-over card to get to third place.
There was also some gritty play in the youngest category for girls, Girls 8 and Under besides some excellent scoring in Boys 7 and Under. Both sections were held over nine holes at the Canyon Course.
After three bogeys in the first seven holes, Amaira Gulati closed birdie for a 38 to take a 7-shot lead over Vihana Patel (40-40) in Girls 7 and under.
Kabir Goyal (33-33) shot a second straight 3-under 33 in the Boys 7 and Under section to lead by 15 shots over Divjot Gupta (41-40). After a bogey-free first day, Kabir had five birdies and two bogeys on the second day.
After five bogeys in the first six holes in the Girls 15-18 section, Lavanya Gupta (75-73) holed out for an eagle from more than 90 yards on the Par-4 seventh hole at the Classic Golf and Country Club. Her recovery included an eagle-birdie-birdie run on the seventh, eighth and ninth and a birdie on the 14th but she dropped a shot on the 15th. She led Malaysia's Kathiyayani Gunasegar (75-79) by six and Panchkula's Jiah Kang (80-74) was also tied for second.