May 13, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1427

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NEW DELHI, May 12: Young Indian pro Ashok Kumar cruised into a four-stroke lead after the second round of the Asian Tour's Aamby Valley event on Friday.

Kumar, 24, carded a six-under-par 66, one off the course record, to finish on 11-under 133. Briton Simon Hurd was in second place after compiling a 70 for 137. South Africa's Simon Griffiths (72) and Indian Firoz Ali (73) were joint third, a further three strokes adrift.

South African Hendrik Buhrmann, the first-round leader, carded five bogeys in a three-over 75 to slip to joint fifth with Australians Marcus Both and Jarrod Moseley and American Bryan Saltus.

Kumar almost aced his first hole, the par-three 10th, when his eight-iron rolled to within a foot off the pin to earn the first of his seven birdies at the picturesque course near Mumbai.

“On this course you can't give away shots and I had to focus on every hole,” he told reporters. “You never know what is going to happen tomorrow.”

Hurd's game fluctuated for the second consecutive day as his five birdies were offset by three dropped shots.

“It's windier in the afternoon so the course plays a bit tougher and the fairways play a bit tighter,” he said. “Good luck to the Indian guy who is leading, I'll try to reel him in.”

A total of 67 players made the cut at four-over in the inaugural tournament, one of two Asian Tour events in India.

Leading second-round scores

133 - Ashok Kumar 67-66

137 - Simon Hurd 67-70

140 - Simon Griffiths 68-72, Firoz Ali 67-73

141 - Marcus Both 70-71, Bryan Saltus 71-70, Jarrod Moseley 69-72, Hendrik Buhrmann 66-75

142 - Corey Harris 69-73, Rahil Gangjee 73-69, Barry Hume 70-72, Martin Rominger 69-73, Garth Mulroy 74-68

143 - Gaurav Ghei 74-69, Simon Nash 71-72, Rahul Ganapathy 74-69, Airil Rizman Zahari 69-74, Terry Pilkadari) 72-71, Kevin Chun 73-70, Keith Horne 68-75, Mukesh Kumar 69-74, Pat Giles 70-73, Olle Nordberg 73-70, Jason King 71-72, Yasin Ali 71-72, Kane Webbe 69-74

144 - Ari Savolainen 74-70, Ranjit Singh 72-72, Darren Griff 73-71, Jamie Mcleary 73-71, Uttam Singh Mundy 69-75, Anthony Brown 73-71, Iain Steel 72-72, Luke Hickmott 69-75, S.S.P.Chowrasia 70-74, Gerald Rosales 74-70.

British Masters scores

LONDON: Leading first round scores in the British Masters at The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, on Thursday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 72):

66 - Darren Clarke, Peter Hanson (SWE)

67 - Paul Casey, Jarmo Sandelin (SWE), Michael Campbell (NZL)

68 - Johan Edfors (SWE), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Gary Emerson, Ian Poulter, David Higgins, Andrew Coltart, Oliver Wilson

69 - Marten Olander (SWE), Christian Nilsson (SWE), Fredrik Widmark (SWE), Jean-Francois Lucquin (FRA), Richard Finch, Marcus Fraser (AUS), Gary Evans, Leif Westerberg (SWE), Ian Woosnam, David Bransdon, Lloyd Saltman

70 - Gary Orr, David Lynn, Paul Broadhurst, Scott Drummond, Kenneth Ferrie, David Howell, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP), Kevin Stadler (USA), Sandy Lyle, Steven O'Hara, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Tom Whitehouse, Lee Westwood, Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), Peter Hedblom (SWE), Richard Green (AUS), Graeme McDowell, Ian Garbutt, Phillip Price, Christian Cevaer (FRA), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Jonathan Lomas, Shiv Kapur (IND), Jyoti Randhawa (IND)

71 - Stephen Gallacher, Simon Dyson, Robert Karlsson (SWE), Andrew Marshall, Peter Baker, Peter O'Malley (AUS), Miguel Carballo (ARG), David Carter, Warren Abery (RSA), Simon Wakefield, Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP), David Dixon, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Richard Sterne (RSA), Joakim Backstrom (SWE)

72 - Paul Lawrie, Colin Montgomerie, Henrik Stenson (SWE), Eduardo Romero (ARG), Jamie Donaldson, Ignacio Garrido (ESP), Steven Jeppesen (SWE), Jean-Francois Remesy (FRA), Alastair Forsyth, Garry Houston, Emanuele Canonica (ITA), Andrew Oldcorn, Stephen Browne, Mark Foster, David Griffiths, Philip Walton, Jamie Spence, Francesco Molinari (ITA), Angel Cabrera (ARG), Gregory Havret (FRA), Michael Kirk (RSA), Markus Brier (AUT), Marco Ruiz (PAR), Robert-Jan Derksen (NED), Jean Van de Velde (FRA), Marc Cayeux (ZIM), Oliver Whiteley

Byron Nelson Classic

IRVING (Texas): Leading scores here on Thursday after the first round of the US$5.8mar US PGA Byron Nelson Championship (USA unless noted):

65 - Adam Scott (AUS), Steve Lowery

66 - Bob Estes, Brett Wetterlich

67 - Dean Wilson, Nathan Green (AUS), Tim Herron, Bo Van Pelt, Omar Uresti, JJ Henry, Ryuji Imada (JPN), James Driscoll, Bubba Dickerson, Hunter Mahan

68 - Dudley Hart, Mathew Goggin (AUS), Phil Tataurangi (NZL), BJ Staten, Ernie Els (RSA), West Short, Trevor Immelman (RSA), Tom Pernice

69 - Luke Donald (GBR), Camilo Villegas (COL), KJ Choi (KOR)

70 - Bernhard Langer (GER), Vijay Singh (FIJ), Brian Davis (GBR), Stephen Leaney (AUS)

71 - Rod Pampling (AUS), Peter Lonard (AUS), Shigeki Maruyama (JPN), David McKenzie (AUS), Justin Rose (GBR), Rory Sabbatini (RSA), Richard S. Johnson (SWE), Carlos Franco (PAR)

72 - Carl Petterssen (SWE)

73 - Jesper Parnevik (SWE), Greg Chalmers (AUS), Geoff Ogilvy (AUS), Henrik Bjornstad (NOR), Tim Clark (RSA), Arjun Atwal (IND), Michael Sim (AUS), Mathias Gronberg (SWE)

74 - John Senden (AUS), Jon Mills (CAN), Nick Price (ZIM)

75 - Alex Cjeka (GER), Greg Owen (GBR), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Ian Leggatt (CAN), Craig Prks (NZL)

76 - Daniel Chopra (SWE).—Agencies