Delhi's Ali Sher, the overnight leader with a seven-under, had a horrendous round and returned five-over that pulled him down to sixth position. Shiv Prakash, Feroz Ali and Amritinder Singh were joint second at 140, five strokes behind the leader, while Gaurav Ghei, overnight second with a five-under went two-over today to be placed fifth at 141.

Starting from the 10th tee, Vijay Kumar made the day his own as he attacked the greens with gusto, and came up with an eagle and seven birdies as he finished the first nine at four-under and the return at two-under.

Vijay's card would have looked even better but for a missed eagle putt from eight feet on the par-5 6th as he two-putted for a birdie.But he made up for the `miss' on the par-5 7th which he eagled after a Driver and a 4-iron set him up for a 25 feet uphill putt.

Another notable shot was the three-wood to green on the seventh, against the wind, which typified his aggressive intent.

Vijay Kumar dubbed his putting as horrendous, but his confidence was as high as it could be, as he confessed later that he was eyeing a third consecutive `Player of the Year' award.

The day's second best card was credited to Uttam Singh Mundy who came in with a four-under 68, inclusive of five birdies on the first nine, followed by one bogey on the return.

Though the spotlight was very much on the professionals, 52 of whom made the cut, CV Yudhvir turned in a fine card of two-under 70 to speak up for the amateurs and which put him joint 17th along with eight others, with a two-round total of 146.

The Top Scores

Professionals: 135 - Vijay Kumar (69,66); 140 - Shiv prakash (71,69), Feroz Ali (70,70), Amritinder Singh (70,70); 141 - Gaurav Ghei(67,74); 142 - Rejwan Ali (69,73), Ali Sher (65,77); 143 - Uttam Singh Mundy (75,68), Bhoop Singh (71,72); Gast Ram (69,74), Manohar Dike (72,71); 144 - Rohtas Singh (74,70), Mukesh Kumar (70,74); 145 - Amit Dube (72,73), Sanjay Kumar (71,74), Devendra Patel (70,75).

Amateurs: 146 - CV Yudhvir (76,70); 153 - Gaurav Sayal (76,77); 154 - D Nagaraj (76,78); 155 - Vivek V Raghavan (75, 80).