Cuello, Randhawa light up Hero Honda Masters

The cut was applied at three-over 147 and 67 pros and one amateur (RahilGangjee) made it to the weekend rounds. Cuello, the 40-year-old resident of Visayas Island won the 1997 Omega PGA Championship on the Asian PGA Davidoff Tour, but has been struggling with his form this season. However, he showed no such discomfort as he made nine birdies in a bravura round and only realised that he did not make any on the four par-5s when asked by a mediaperson.

"That’s true! In fact, I was so engrossed and focussed on my round that Idid not realise it till now. I just wanted to hit the fairways and then findthe greens. Honestly, I did not want any birdies. But my iron play helped mehit some balls close to the pin and I putted much better today," said Cuelloafter the round.

Cuello started with a 10-footer birdie putt that set the tone for the restof the day. Eight birdies followed, out of which only two resulted fromputts in the 10-12 feet range. Rest all were from within three to four feetas he hammered his approach shots with radar-like accuracy.

Randhawa, aiming to become the first player on the Asian PGA Tour to claim atitle three years in a row, was determined to do much better than hislevel-par round yesterday. He did so in style with a bogey-free round wherehe missed two eagle putts by inches and was unfortunate to see his thirdshot from 95 yards spin back 15 feet after almost hitting the flag.

Starting from the tenth tee, he holed a eight-footer birdie putt which gavehim a lot of confidence for the round. "I struggled with my putteryesterday. The greens are so fast that I was tending to deaccelerate myputts and was not reaching the cups. I made sure that I chase away the fearof overshooting the hole and rest all was easy," said the 28-year-old whowas seen at the practice putting green at 8:30 pm last night.

"I would have loved to call it a flawless round but the fact remains that Istill missed two five-footer birdie putts (on the fifth and seventh holes).But I will take a 64 any day. It has brought me back into contention and Ihope the next two days are as good as today," added Randhawa who sank a25-footer left-to-right birdie putt on the third hole.

Buhrmann had a slow start from the 10th tee and made his first birdie on the14th hole. But he was on fire on the back nine as he made three birdies andan eagle. "I putted extremely well on the back nine, including a 25-footerdownhill for an eagle on the sixth hole. In fact, I completed the round in26 putts which helped me get the score," said Buhrmann who is yet to win atitle on the Asian PGA Tour.

Arjun Atwal added another 68 for his eight-under aggregate. "I was hittingthe ball great today and found all 18 greens in regulation. But my chippingwas weak and you need to be very strong in that area to score on thiscourse," said Atwal who made five birdies and one bogey.

Atwal started from the 10th tee and was two-under at the turn with birdieson the 15th and 18th. On the back nine, he birdied the first tw holesbefore making a three-putt bogey on the fifth. "More than the bogey, I wasdisappointed with the pars on the next two holes as I had good birdieopportunities there," said Atwal who finished with a birdie on the ninth.Overnight leader Scott Kammonn of the US could not sustain the pace and fellto second place after a two-under 70 round that included three birdies andone bogey. "The difference between today and yesterday was that I made a lotof good putts today which did not drop in. But I am happy to be just onestroke off the leader," said Kammonn after the round.

Order of Merit leader Yeh Wei-tze of Taiwan shot a six-under 66 to besix-under 138 for the tournament and is in tied 10th place along withIndia’s Gaurav Ghei who shot his second successive 69.

SCORES (after 36 holes): 135 — Rodrigo Cuello (72,63); 136 — Jyoti Randhawa (72,64), Hendrik Buhrmann (72,64), Arjun Atwal (68,68), Scott Kammonn (66,70); 137 — Sammy Daniels (70,67), Simon Dyson (70,67), Andrew Pitts (69,68), Clay Devers (69,68); 138 — Yeh Wei-tze (72,66), Gaurav Ghei (69,69); 139 — Scott Taylor (74,65), Danilo Santos (72,67), Amandeep Johl (70,69), Chris Williams (70,69), Lam Chih Bing (73,66), Uttam Singh Mundy(69,70); 140 — Atthaphon Prathummanee (73,67), Mukesh Kumar (73,67), Harmeet Kahlon (71,69), Aaron Meeks (71,69), Digvijay Singh (70,70); 141 — Jeev Milkha Singh (71,70), Rahil Gangjee (Am) (71,70), James Kingston (73,68),Nico van Rensburg (72,69), Imdad Hussain (71,70), Charli Wi (71,70), MikeCunning (70,71)

OTHER INDIAN SCORES: 142 — Ali Sher (66,74), Pappan (72,70), 143 — SSP Chowrasia (76,67), Shamim Khan (74,69), Feroz Ali (71,72), Shiv Prakash (71,72); 144 — Rafiq Ali (72,72), Rohtas Singh (72,72), Indrajit Bhalotia(72,72), Mohammed Yamin (72,72); 145 — Vijay Kumar (74,71), Jaiveer Virk(75,70), Basad Ali (74,71)