Olympic-bound Bhullar one shot off the lead in Morocco

Rabat: Olympic-bound Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar gave himself a confidence boost after firing a solid five-under 68 in the second round to rise to tied second spot on the $2 million International Series Morocco here.

Bhullar, who scored 3-under 70 in the first round at the Par-73 Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, thus took his total to 8-under to lie just one shot behind leader, American John Catlin (66-71).

The 36-year-old Bhullar, whose 11 Asian Tour wins is the third highest in the list of all-time winners, had six birdies and one bogey.

He shares the second place with Travis Smyth (69) from Australia, Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma (70), New Zealander Ben Campbell (70) and Filipino Miguel Tabuena (71).

Among other Indians in the field, Rayhan Thomas (69-73) was T-15, Varun Chopra (71-74) was T-39 as was Rashid Khan (70-75). Veer Ahlawat (70-76) was T-48. Only five Indians made the 36-hole cut.

Bhullar, who is playing his first event since April, had four birdies and one bogey in his first round and it was six birdies against one bogey in the second.

Bhullar’s last Asian Tour win came in November 2023 when he won the Indonesia Masters. Earlier this year, Bhullar won an event on the Indian PGTI Tour in his home Tour in Chandigarh.

Shiv Kapur (75-72) missed the cut narrowly by one shot. Others missing the cut were Honey Baisoya, Khalin Joshi, Karandeep Kocchar, Kartik Sharma, S Chikkarangappa, Saptak Talwar, SSP Chawrasia, Jeev Milkha Singh, Yuvraj Sandhu and Ajeetesh Sandhu, who retired in the second round.