Bengal golfer Anshul Mishra takes the top spot, as 32 top players qualify after the stroke play qualifiers of the IGU 124^th Amateur Championship of India which is being held at the prestigious Tollygunge Club, Kolkata.

Local lad Anshul Mishra (70-66), who was tied seventh with a group of golfers including Chandigarh’s Ransher Singh Randhawa, Delhi’s Anas Khan,  Haryana’s Harman Sachdeva, Maharashtra’s Shamit Dakhane, Delhi’s Deepak Yadav, and Karnataka’s Jaiveer, after the first round at a level par score of 70, shot a 4-under 66 in the second round. With an overall stroke play score of 4-under 136, Anshul, last year’s defending champion of the IGU 123^rd Amateur Championship of India, took the first spot in the stroke play qualifiers of the IGU 124^th Amateur Championship of India.

Punjab’s Danish Verma (71-66), Haryana’s Harman Sachdeva (70-67), and Delhi’s Deepak Yadav (70-67) followed Anshul lay tied second at an overall stroke play score of 3-under 137.

Delhi’s Anas Khan (70-68) and Uttar Pradesh’s Kanav Chauhan (69-69) lay tied fifth at an overall score of 2-under 138, followed by Bengal golfers Karan Singh (69-70) and Arjun Singh (68-71), who jointly lay seventh at an overall score of 1-under 139.

The first round of the IGU 124^th Amateur Golf Championship of India, that is the two day Stroke-Play round, is conducted to determine the top 32 golfers, who further qualify for the second round of the tournament, that is the match-play round.

An eight way play-off for five places took place to determine the last few of the 32 qualifiers for the match play. A group of eight golfers consisting of Karnataka’s Sidhant Nathan, Haryana’s Gulfam Hussain, Karnataka’s Mithil MG, Delhi’s Chandan Kumar Yadav, Haryana’s Rohan Singh Rana, Uttar Pradesh’s Arin Ahuja, Chandigarh’s Krish Chawla and Karnataka’s Jaiveer, who were tied 28^th at an overall score of 146, took part in the play-off.

Ultimately, Sidhant Nathan, Gulfam Hussain, Mithil MG, Chandan Kumar Yadav, and Rohan Singh Rana qualified for the 28^th to the 32^nd positions for the match-play round.

As the Stroke Play Qualifiers come to an end, the second round, that is the match-play round for the 32 players, who have made the cut, is all set to begin at 7:30 AM, tomorrow, on December 18.

The 16 matches taking place tomorrow will have 16 winners, who will qualify for 8 matches in the Pre-Quarter Final Round.