<p class="title">India's latest winner on the Asian Tour, Viraj Madappa shot 10 shots better than the first round as he carded an impressive six-under 66 to jump to tied seventh spot at the USD 500,000 Yeangder Tournament Players Championship here on Friday.</p>.<p>The drastic improvement in the second round helped Madappa to become the best Indian in the field, moving up to tied seventh spot from overnight tied 80th position.</p>.<p>Madappa, now four shots behind joint leaders, John Catlin and Panuphol Pittyarat, said, "We played in some difficult conditions yesterday and I felt I played a lot better than my four-over. I made a few mistakes yesterday and it got magnified with the conditions.</p>.<p>"It was much easier today and the greens were a little softer. I could go after some flags and I put myself into better positions today."</p>.<p>If Madappa made a 10-shot improvement, Karandeep Kochhar improved his first round card by 13 shots, from 79 to 66 and moved to tied 34th, alongside Rashid Khan (75-70) and Khalin Joshi (72-73).</p>.<p>Ahead of them were Shiv Kapur (74-70) and SSP Chawrasia (72-72), who are placed at tied-19th position.</p>.<p>Himmat Rai (72-74) and S Chikkarangappa (76-70) were the other Indians to make the cut in tied 49th place.</p>.<p>Of the 14 Indians who started on Thursday, six missed the cut and the big surprise was Shubhankar Sharma (75-73), who missed out by one shot.</p>.<p>Also missing by one was Rahil Gangjee (78-70) despite a heroic second round. Udayan Mane (78-72), Jeev Milkha Singh (79-73) and Chiragh Kumar (78-75) also missed the cut. Honey Baisoya withdrew after nine holes in the second round.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Lahiri disappoints</p>.<p>Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri had a disappointing opening start at the Safeway Open in Napa, California as he hit a 1-over 73 to lie way down the order after the first round.</p>.<p>On a rather cloudy day at the USD 6.4 million tournament, Lahiri had a birdie early on third but suffered a lapse around the sixth and seventh holes. He three-putted the sixth and then bogeyed the seventh from inside six feet.</p>.<p>Despite getting a shot back on eighth, the Indian was not hitting close enough to give himself chances and when he did have 10-12 feet for makeable putts, Lahiri missed some of them.</p>.<p>Birdies on 11th and 12th showed recovery but Lahiri bogeyed 15th and 17th and missed from just over 10 feet on 17th and from 11-12 feet on 18th.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, rookie Sepp Straka, in his first-ever start on the PGA Tour, birdied the final three holes to post a bogey-free 9-under 63 and grab sole lead with another rookie Chase Wright carding 64 and veteran Phil Mickelson, who reeled off six straight birdies en route to a 7-under 65.</p>
<p class="title">India's latest winner on the Asian Tour, Viraj Madappa shot 10 shots better than the first round as he carded an impressive six-under 66 to jump to tied seventh spot at the USD 500,000 Yeangder Tournament Players Championship here on Friday.</p>.<p>The drastic improvement in the second round helped Madappa to become the best Indian in the field, moving up to tied seventh spot from overnight tied 80th position.</p>.<p>Madappa, now four shots behind joint leaders, John Catlin and Panuphol Pittyarat, said, "We played in some difficult conditions yesterday and I felt I played a lot better than my four-over. I made a few mistakes yesterday and it got magnified with the conditions.</p>.<p>"It was much easier today and the greens were a little softer. I could go after some flags and I put myself into better positions today."</p>.<p>If Madappa made a 10-shot improvement, Karandeep Kochhar improved his first round card by 13 shots, from 79 to 66 and moved to tied 34th, alongside Rashid Khan (75-70) and Khalin Joshi (72-73).</p>.<p>Ahead of them were Shiv Kapur (74-70) and SSP Chawrasia (72-72), who are placed at tied-19th position.</p>.<p>Himmat Rai (72-74) and S Chikkarangappa (76-70) were the other Indians to make the cut in tied 49th place.</p>.<p>Of the 14 Indians who started on Thursday, six missed the cut and the big surprise was Shubhankar Sharma (75-73), who missed out by one shot.</p>.<p>Also missing by one was Rahil Gangjee (78-70) despite a heroic second round. Udayan Mane (78-72), Jeev Milkha Singh (79-73) and Chiragh Kumar (78-75) also missed the cut. Honey Baisoya withdrew after nine holes in the second round.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Lahiri disappoints</p>.<p>Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri had a disappointing opening start at the Safeway Open in Napa, California as he hit a 1-over 73 to lie way down the order after the first round.</p>.<p>On a rather cloudy day at the USD 6.4 million tournament, Lahiri had a birdie early on third but suffered a lapse around the sixth and seventh holes. He three-putted the sixth and then bogeyed the seventh from inside six feet.</p>.<p>Despite getting a shot back on eighth, the Indian was not hitting close enough to give himself chances and when he did have 10-12 feet for makeable putts, Lahiri missed some of them.</p>.<p>Birdies on 11th and 12th showed recovery but Lahiri bogeyed 15th and 17th and missed from just over 10 feet on 17th and from 11-12 feet on 18th.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, rookie Sepp Straka, in his first-ever start on the PGA Tour, birdied the final three holes to post a bogey-free 9-under 63 and grab sole lead with another rookie Chase Wright carding 64 and veteran Phil Mickelson, who reeled off six straight birdies en route to a 7-under 65.</p>