Bhattacharya and Sandhu share the halfway lead at Poona Club Open

Delhi’s Shaurya Bhattacharya, already a PGTI winner this year, had a standout second round to emerge as joint leader at the Poona Club Open on Wednesday. Image courtesy of PGTI.

By Rahul Banerji

Shaurya Bhattacharya and PGTI Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu emerged as the midway leaders in the Rs 1 crore Poona Club Open on Wednesday.

Bhattacharya posted a tournament low of 8-under-par 63, while Sandhu posted a 4-under 67 to top the leaderboard after 36 holes at 10-under 132, the PGTI said.

Bhattacharya (69-63) rose 13 places from a tie for 14 on the night^e and Chandigarh resident Sandhu (65-67) went one better than his second-place finish overnight.

Day one leader Mohd Azhar (64-70) of Hyderabad shot a 70 in round two to drop to third place at 8-under 134.

The Poona Club Open 2025 is supported by the host venue, title sponsors Vencobb and NECC besides Ventive, SKS Fasteners, Elica, Marvel Realtors, Shubbaan Investments, DFMC, Automech and Kinetic.

The discount dropped to 2 out of 144, with 57 professionals advancing to the funding rounds.

Veer Ahlawat, the 2024 PGTI Order of Merit champion, finished the day tied for eighth at 6-under 136.

Akshay Damale from Pune was the best placed among the local professionals at joint 24th position^e at 1 under 141.

Solid wins

Bhattacharya, fourth in the PGTI rankings, notched 10 birdies, including five conversions from 10 to 17 feet and several good chip putts, in addition to dropping two shots.

Watch round three live on Thursday from 11:30 am https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSG1if_NRwQ

“I felt I could drive well because I kept the ball on the fairways,” the Delhi player said later.

“A lot of the par 4s here are reachable and on most of them I was on the green where I could make chip putts. I left most of those putts within 10 feet and my putting was great.

“I played well here last year, finishing in the top 15. I won the first half of 2025 and also had a very consistent second half of the season, coming close to victory a few times.

“The game is going in the right direction.”

Bounce back

Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu from Chandigarh improved one spot from the tie for second place on Wednesday. Image courtesy of PGTI.

After three bogeys in his first six holes, Sandhu bounced back strongly with seven birdies.

“It took me a while to wake up on the course today and the early bogeys did that for me,” Sandhu said.

“However, I am happy with the way the back nine went today. I will definitely look for a better start in the next two days and will also try to make money on the back nine.

“I think the seventh hole, where I got my first birdie of the day, was the momentum changer as I almost chipped in for Eagle.

“From then on I felt very comfortable off the tee and that got my round back on track.”

Also read: Azhar goes 7 under for first-round lead at Poona Club Open

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