Park, Kapur joint leader in second round

Gurgaon: India's Shiv Kapur fired a 7-under par 65 on Friday to take a share of the lead with Unho Park of Australia after two rounds of the Johnnie Walker Classic.

Kapur sank an eagle and five birdies to log a two-round aggregate of 10-under par 134 and join Park, whose 6-under par 66 in the second round at the DLF Golf and Country Club featured eight birdies and two bogies.

In a tightly-packed leaderboard, world No. 5 Adam Scott and three-time Major winner Vijay Singh were within striking distance of the lead, but Ryder Cup stars Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and England's Ian Poulter missed the cut at the $2.5 million event.

Japan's Taichiro Kiyota and Indian Jyoti Randhawa were one stroke behind the leaders, with Scott in a four-way tie for the fifth spot at eight-under par 136 along with Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara and England pair Phillip Archer and Graeme Storm.

Archer's 64 was the best round of Day II, when Singh moved within four shots of the lead at a 6-under par 138.

The cut was applied at two-under par 142, while Poulter finished on par-144 and Montgomerie on 6-over par 150.

"I was low on energy due to a viral flu over the past five days, but the birdies were a big energy booster and I had the putter working for me today," said Kapur, 26, who has just one Asian Tour title against his name.

"Sometimes it's good if you're sick, not thinking too much about the technique and just focusing on finishing the round. The greens are very grainy, but there are a lot of birdies to be had if you put the balls in the right place."

Park was pleased to have overcome technique problems that caused him to miss the cut in last week's Asian Tour's SAIL Open at another course on the outskirts of New Delhi.

"I was struggling with my swing last week. I've been working on the swing since missing the cut and tried a few things," Park said.

"We've played golf a long time, but you're always learning things. Things creep into your swing and they need ironing out, sometimes you just need a little reminder. The swing got working and things just turned around."

Overnight joint leaders Daniel Vancsik of Argentina and Indian Shamim Khan could not match their opening round's performance, with Khan shooting a double-bogey on the 18th to miss the cut by one stroke, and Vancsik sliding to equal 13th after a 1-under 71.

Also missing the cut was India's Shiv Chowrasia, who earlier this month won the $2.5 million Indian Masters, which was also jointly sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.