Sajib grabs lead on rainy day

Young Sajib Ali grabbed the clubhouse lead at 10-under-par (134) on a rain-affected second round of the BTI Open at the Kurmitola Golf Club yesterday. Sajib was one of those to complete the round on the rain-curtailed day, and the up-and-coming golfer made the most of the opportunity to return a card of four-under-par (68) to add to his 66 in the opening round.

The 27-year-old golfer, who has been making his mark at domestic circuit over the last couple of years, had surged to a two-stroke lead over opening round leader Dulal Hossain, who settled for a one-under-par (71) in the second round. India's Sujjan Singh was in third position at seven-under-par (137) while a further shot back were four golfers including Jamal Hossain Mollah of Bangladesh.

Play was suspended at 1:00pm due to lightning and the break lasted two and a half hours as only 63 golfers out of 120 could complete 18 holes on Thursday. The remaining 57 will commence their second round at 7:00am this morning and the cut will be declared after the completion of the round before the third round begins.

Sajib began his day with a sensational birdie chip-in on the first hole.  The KGC golfer, playing his first season as a professional, then went on to gather six more birdies, but a double-bogey on the 15th, where his tee shot had landed inside the trees, meant his lead was within the reach of the chasing pack.

"The chip-in on the first was a real morale-booster. Thereafter, I struck my irons well and didn't leave myself any long putts. The only error was on the 15th. I know another good score of four to five under in round three would make me a top contender," Sajib said at the end of his day's play.

Two-time Asian Tour winner Siddikur Rahman could only complete 12 holes on day two. He was joint eighth on the leaderboard at five-under. The 31-year-old golfer was one-over through 12 with a birdie and two bogeys.