Kolkata, February 18 Overnight leader Shaurya Bhattacharya shot a brilliant eight-under 62 in the second round to extend his lead to four strokes at the Rs 1.5 crore DP World Players Championship 2026 at the Tollygunge Club here on Wednesday.
Three-time PGTI winner Shaurya (64-62), playing his first event of this PGTI season, produced a bogey-free effort including an eagle and six birdies to take his total to 14-under 126.
Kshitij Naveed Kaul (67-63) returned a 63 featuring an eagle, six birdies and a bogey to move up seven spots to second position at 10-under 130.
Sanjeev Kumar (65) and American Jhared Hack (66), winner of the season's first event, occupied tied third position at totals of seven-under 133.
PGTI Ranking leader Honey Baisoya (65), the winner in Delhi last week, was a further stroke behind in tied fifth place at six-under 134 along with Pranav Mardikar (67).
The cut came down at one-over 141. Fifty-eight professionals advanced to the last two rounds.
Shaurya began the day with a 15-foot birdie conversion on the first hole and followed that up with an incredible eagle-two on the Par-4 fifth hole where he holed his approach from 140 yards, which was the highlight of his round.
Thereafter, 23-year-old Shaurya added five more birdies to his card as he picked up shots on all the three Par-5s. He also made a couple of quality up and downs to consolidate his lead.
Shaurya said, "I'm delighted to have holed out from the fairway for the second time in the tournament. I did it in round one on the fourth hole from 110 yards and today on the fifth from 140 yards. I've done really well with the wedges this week.
"I recovered well from some tough situations today and the consistency off the tee continued. Importantly, I took advantage of the Par-5s by scoring birdies on all of them."
Kshitij Naveed Kaul began the day with a 50-foot eagle conversion on the 10th.
Kshitij, who won at Tollygunge on three occasions in his junior days, almost drove the greens on the Par-4 14th and 15th holes to collect birdies. He added a bogey and four more birdies thereafter.
Mohammad Sanju and Divyanshu Bajaj were the two Kolkata-based professionals who made the cut. Both were placed tied 47th at one-over 141.
