The day’s good news was bang in the centre of the 18th fairway. With the sun right behind them, it was the perfect picture for the swarm of photographers. But Shiv Kapur almost spoiled it. Having put together a perfect round of seven-under, and attacking the green with his second on the par-five, he seemed headed straight into the lake. He landed three feet away, and missed the birdie putt, but still puts an Indian name in the two-member leader group going into day three of the Johnnie Walker Classic. He’s 10-under 134 and shares the top spot with Australian Unho Park.The day’s bad news, of course, had walked across the same fairway just a couple of groups before. He birdied the finishing hole, but the biggest name of the tournament was not able to prolong his stay in this satellite town — Colin Montgomorie has missed the cut. The Scot added a four-over to the two-over from yesterday. Englishman Ian Poulter will also take an early flight, half of those thematically designed dresses going back unused. He shot a fighting four-under today, but the level par 144 was not good enough. The fickleness of the game was, however, most cruelly made evident to Shamim Khan. Figuring in Friday’s newspaper headlines, Thursday’s co-leader shot four-over and missed making the weekend by one shot. The cut came at two-under. SSP Chowrasia hasn’t made it either, his first European event after grabbing the exemption ending early. He shot one-over today, finishing two rounds with one-over 145.Early moveOne of his playing partners abandoned the cause three holes into the day, but Kapur had begun making his move even earlier. Starting the day at three-under, he picked a shot on the second, birdied the fifth from eight feet, and got into a phase where his putter just wouldn’t miss. On the par-five sixth, he was 10 feet away after a 3-iron second shot and holed in for an eagle to get to seven-under. On the par-three eighth, a 30-foot up-down putt never looked like missing and for those watching the 26-year-old, all the talk of tricky greens seemed hogwash. But onto the back nine, and fifth day into his flu, Kapur looked to be tiring. Some of the drives were sprinkled around, and some putts rimmed and edged, but amazingly, he saved par every time he was in trouble. Playing a perfect hole on the par-five 14th that jumps over trenches, Kapur had just about three feet for birdie and holed it for nine-under overall. The rapid rise up the leaderboard was going to get even better. He had teed off safely towards the left on the water-wrapped par-three 16th and the putt looked tricky. A long deliberation with the caddy later, another 30-footer snuggled right into the hole as he joined Park, who had finished in the morning, at the top. The 18th was a missed birdie by his own admission, but he goes into the third day after a confidence-hoicking round of 65 that had no dropped shots. Park had a great round himself, shooting six-under 66 with eight birdies and two bogeys. Before Kapur rose so dramatically, there was another Indian name making the sly move up. Two-under yesterday, Jyoti Randhawa put together a fabulous seven-under today to be nine-under overall and in tied third place. Three birdies on the front nine, one more on the second and a stretch of three straight from the fifth to the seventh rounded up his bogey-less day. He’s tied with Japan’s Taichiro Kiyota.Jeev Milkha Singh made a double bogey on the par-four fifth but had a birdie-birdie finish to bring his round into red digits again. His two-under 70 today gives him six-under overall. He is tied 13th. Leaderboard134 Shiv Kapur (IND), Unho Park (AUS) 135 Taichiro Kiyota (JPN), Jyoti Randhawa (IND)136 Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Adam Scott (AUS) Graeme Storm (ENG), Phillip Archer (ENG) Greg Chalmers (AUS), Lin Wen-tang (TPE)137 Adam Bland (AUS), Richard Finch (ENG)138 Paul Sheehan (AUS), Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Daniel Vancsik (ARG), Vijay Singh (FIJ), Scott Strange (AUS), Soren Hansen (DEN)139 Rahil Gangjee (IND), Michael Long (NZL), Mark Brown (NZL), Chris Rodgers (ENG), James Kamte (RSA), Lee Won-joon (AUS), Marcus Fraser (AUS), Prayad Marksaeng (THA), Arjun Singh (IND)
