Pebble Beach (USA), Feb 3 (IANS) Indian American Sahith Theegala rose to the tenth spot at the halfway mark of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament. Theegala, runner-up at the season-opening Sentry, made up for his first round 70 and is now 5-under for 36 holes with rounds of 70-67.

Korea’s Si Woo Kim, who was fourth after the first round, dropped to tied-10th as his putter went cold.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (64), Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (65), and Belgium’s Thomas Detry (70), who all played at par-71 Pebble Beach Golf Links, share the 36-hole lead on 11-under. The final two rounds will be played at Pebbles Beach.

Scheffler, who had a 69, had a super round on his way to an 8-under 64 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, the low round of the week.

Aberg began his round by making putts of 40, 35 and 30 feet on the opening four holes. That carried the Swede to a 65. Scheffler and Aberg were joined by Thomas Detry, who lost a few shots coming in at Pebble Beach for a 70.

The 25-year-old Kim, seeking his fifth PGA Tour title, ground out a 1-under 71 at Spyglass Hills Golf Course as he stayed on the leaders’ coattails in the second Signature event of the 2024 PGA TOUR Season.

Kim was frustrated with his flatstick as he took 32 putts, six more than his opening round.

The iconic PGA TOUR tournament, AT&T Pebble Beach involves the participation of the amateurs over the first two rounds.

Another Korean star, Tom Kim, hauled himself back into contention after carding a bogey-free 67, with four of his five birdies coming on the back nine at Spyglass Hills Golf Course. He jumped 21 spots to tied 18th on 6-under 138.

Kevin Yu of Chinese Taipei signed for a 68 at Spyglass Hills to sit on T34 on 140 alongside Korean S.H. Kim, who carded a successive 70 at Pebble Beach.

Patrick Cantlay was poised to join the leaders except for missing a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th at Pebble Beach, and then hitting his tee shot on the 18th onto the rocks, forcing him to scramble for a hard-earned par and a 70. He was one shot behind.

Justin Thomas despite a poor day on the green was two shots behind as a storm, rain and wind are expected over the weekend.

Nick Dunlap, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, who turned pro after he won The American Express two weeks ago, continued to have a rough time. He shot 74 at Spyglass Hill and was at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Pattaya, Feb 2 (IANS) India’s top amateur star Avani Prashanth got off to a good start with a 4-under 68 that put her in tied fourth place after the first round of the 2024 Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific.

She is one shot behind three players, Thai duo of defending champion Eila Galitsky, her teammate Novaporn Soontreeyapas, who had a hole-in-one and Taiwan’s Chen-Wei Wu. They shot 5-under 67 each.

India is fielding a six-member team. While Avani was the leading Indian, two others, who came close to even par score were Vidhatri Urs and Saanvi Somu, who shot 1-over 73 each. They were Tied 39th.

The other scores were disappointing. Keerthana Rajeev Nair (81) and Heena Kang (81) were T-84 and Mannat Brar (82) was 86th.

Avani was tied for fourth place with Thailand’s Pimpisa Rubrong, Amy Im of New Zealand and China’s Yahui Xhang. They all shot 68 each.

Avani, the winner of the Queen Sirikit Cup individuals last year, started from the back nine with a bogey on Par-5 10th hole but later made a good recovery. She had six birdies and two bogeys in her round at the challenging Siam Country Club in Pattaya, Thailand. Avani birdied three times between the 13th and the 16th.

Avani was happy with her round and said: “I definitely am. The way I started, I was quite confused about how the day was going to go. But then, you know, I took control of my full round by the time I was on the 13th, and that really put things in place. I’m so glad it turned out how it did.

“I put myself in good positions from there on and I set myself up for a birdie on nearly every hole from there. The ones that dropped, dropped, and the ones that didn’t, I’ll probably get them tomorrow.”

La Jolla (USA), Jan 28 (IANS) Indian American golfer Akshay Bhatia logged his third Top-15 finish in four starts as he finished T-13 in the Farmers Insurance Open. He shot 2-under 70 to be 8-under for the week-a-week after missing the cut at the American Express Championship. He was T-13 at The Sentry and T-14 at the Sony Open.

Frenchman Matthieu Pavon made an 8-foot putt for a dramatic birdie on No.18 at Torrey Pines South for a one-shot victory in the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday.

Pavon raised his arms in celebration and shouted before hugging his caddie after the putt rolled in as dusk began falling at the municipal course high above the Pacific Ocean. His only birdie on the back nine saved him from a playoff.

His final-round 3-under 69 put him at 13-under, one stroke better than Nicolai Hojgaard. Pavon was two shots ahead of Stephan Jaeger, who led after the second and third rounds, and Nicolai Hojgaard and Nate Lashley.

Pavon, who was born in Toulouse, France, was playing in just his 11th PGA TOUR event. He has one victory on the DP World Tour and earned his PGA Tour card through the Race to Dubai PGA Tour Eligibility Rankings.

Aaron Rai was T-33 and Sahith Theegala who was second at the Sentry was T64 this week.

La Jolla (USA), Jan 26 (IANS) Indian American golfer Sahith Theegala shot two birdies in a row to make the cut at the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Runner-up at the opening event this season, Theegala, who shot 72 in the first round added a 68 and at 4-under 140 he made the cut in Tied 50th place.

Also making the cut was Akshay Bhatia (70-71) on the cutline at T-64 and he was 1-under for 36 holes. Bhatia was in the Top-15 in his first two starts of the season in Hawaii. Aaron Rai, who also has an Indian connection from his parents’ side, has rounds of 66-70 and is lying T-7 and is 8-under and five shots behind the leader.

Stephan Jaeger of Germany holed a 35-foot eagle putt on his final hole for an 8-under 64 and took a one-shot lead over Nicolai Højgaard of Denmark after the second round. The 32-year-old Jaeger was at 12-under halfway through the tournament. Jaeger shot a 68 on the South Course a day earlier.

Hojgaard shot a bogey-free 66 on the North Course and was at 11-under. Thomas Detry of Belgium and Matthieu Pavon of France were 10-under after playing the South Course. Pavon played a consistent round of 65 with just one bogey while Detry had two bogeys in his final four holes for a 68.

Tony Finau (66, North Course) and Michael Kim (68, South Course) were 9-under. Aaron Rai (70), Emiliano Grillo (69) and Joseph Bramlett (66) were all at 8-under after playing the South Course.

San Diegan Xander Schauffele, who is ranked No. 5 in the world, was in a group of 13 at 7-under after a 68 on the North Course. The first-round leader Kevin Yu (64-74) fell off the pace after a 74 on the South Course. Yu is now T-23.

Defending champion Max Homa, ranked No. 7 in the world, shot a 70 on the North Course and was at 4 under. Hideki Matsuyama shot his first PGA TOUR hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth on the South Course during his round of 71.

Jamshedpur, Jan 25 (IANS) Zubin Nijhawan of Panchkula shot a six-under 65 to take the clubhouse lead on Day One of the Pre-Qualifying I of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) Qualifying School 2024 being played at the Golmuri Golf Course here on Thursday.

Nijhawan produced four birdies on the front nine including three on the trot before adding two more on the back nine as his card did not have a single blemish. The quartet of Akram Ali Mollah, Yash Majmudar, Gurbaaz Mann and SK Mohin were tied for second place with scores of 66.

Amateur Rohit Boken was placed sixth at 67.

In all 13 players out of the total field of 122 could not complete their rounds on Thursday due to fading light. These players will resume their rounds on Friday morning.

Out of a total field of 122, the top 22 players (+ ties) will qualify from Pre-Qualifying I, a 36-hole event, for the Final Qualifying Stage. There are three Pre-Qualifying events in total.