PANCHKULA: Karanjit Singh Sandhu of  Delhi returned a fantastic card of seven under 65 and in the process he shot into the lead and also set a course record at the end of second round of the HUDA-GTPL-Unitech Haryana Open.

The Delhi professional was leading with a two days total of five under 139.  He had carded 74 in the first round. Mowh-based seasoned campaigner Mukesh Kumar and Gaganjeet Bhullar of Kapurthala shot scores of one under 71 to be tied second at four under 140. The cut was applied at six over 150.       Karanjit Singh Sandhu birdied on the 11th, 15th, 16th, 17th to make the turn at four under. Another birdie on the second took his score to five under. He then missed a chip-putt from the edge of the green on the par three fourth to register his first and last bogey of the day. Sandhu sank an eagle on the par five eighth when his second shot (3 iron), helped by a good bounce came up just four feet short of the hole.

The 27-year-old closed with a birdie on the ninth where he sank a 20 feet putt. "I had a satisfying round today as I read the greens much better than yesterday and did not have a single three-putt. One needs to figure out the greens pretty quickly in order to play well on this course," said Sandhu.He added, "I hit the ball very close and did not leave too many long putts for myself. The eagle on the eighth was a result of a great second shot which ended up four feet short of the pin. I'm now feeling very good about my game."Mukesh Kumar (69, 71) made a promising start to his second round when he sank birdies on the 11th and 12th. He then three-putted on the 14th to concede a bogey. Mukesh birdied the 15th to make the turn at two under. A couple of more three-putts resulted in a bogey on the first and a double bogey on the second. The PGTI Order of Merit leader then pulled back two strokes as he sank birdies on the fifth and seventh.

Mukesh, who currently trails Sandhu by one stroke, said, "I performed very poorly with the putter today. The pin positions were not very difficult but I had trouble reading the greens. I made too many three-putts."

Gaganjeet Bhullar (69, 71) fired birdies on the 17th, 18th, first and dropped bogeys on the 10th, 13th and eighth to join Mukesh in tied second. Rahul Ganapathy (68, 74), Rafick Ali Mollah (72, 70) and the Chandigarh duo of Randhir Singh Ghotra (71, 71) and Harendra Gupta (74, 68) finished the day in tied fourth place at two under 142. Feroz Ali Mollah, Mohd Siddikur Rahman and C Muniyappa are all tied eighth with identical totals of one under 143. Chandigarh's Harmeet Kahlon (74, 76) is tied 44th at six over 15