Malelane (South Africa), Feb 8 (PTI) India's Shaurya Bhattacharya shot a fine 72 and 71 in the opening two rounds to be placed tied ninth at the halfway stage of the African Amateur Championship golf tournament at Leopard Creek Country Club here.

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The leader is Aldrich Potgieter, who is also the reigning British Amateur champion.

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Following a second round of 69 that featured six birdies, one bogey and a double bogey at the tricky par three seventh hole, Potgieter tops the leader board at eight-under par going into moving day.

Fellow South African Fabrizio de Abreu is one shot back and Scotland's Gregor Graham and another local lad, Pascal Gunther is further two shots behind.

Dylan Kayne rounds out the top five after a 65 on Tuesday.

Other Indians in fray, Milind Soni (81-75) and Vinamra Anand (74-82) are way behind, while Harimohan Singh shot 79-88.

The 54-hole team event sees the South African team of Potgieter, Kyle de Beer, Jono Broomhead and Daniel Bennett holding a comfortable 12-stroke advantage over their Scottish counterparts, but with three scores out of four to count, the lead is certainly not insurmountable.

The Indian team is lying sixth.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)