Shivaram Shrestha climbed up the leaderboard after carding five-under 63 in the second round of the Ghana Shyam’s Professional Golden Jubilee Golf Championship at Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) on Tuesday.

Shivaram opened up a three-stroke lead over his elder brother Jayaram, who shot 1-under 66. Shivaram was at 10-under 126 on the specially sanctioned event of Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2017-18. First round leader Bhuvan Nagarkoti slipped to third at five-under 131 after carding two-over 70.

Sanjay Lama (68) and Surya Prasad Sharma (65) were tied for the fourth at two-under 134. Lama shot a 68 and Sharma carded a 65. Rame Magar was at sixth at 135 after carding one-under 67 and Dinesh Prajapati, who shot one-under 67, seventh at one-over 137. Deepak Magar was next at 140 and Krishna Man Rajbahak 10th at 141.

Shivaram shot five-under 29 on the front nine and even-par 34 on the back nine. The Nepal No 1 sank birdies from second to fourth hole to added to two more shots on the seventh and eighth. On the back nine, Shivaram dropped shots on the 12th and 15th holes against birdies on the 13th and 16th holes.

His elder brother Jayaram shot even-par 34 on the front nine but improved on with two-under 32 on the back nine. He sank a birdie on the fourth but dropped a shot on the ninth hole. On the back nine, Jayaram sank birdies on the 10th and 13th holes. Nagarkoti carded two-over 36 on the front nine and even-par 34 on the back nine.

Nagarkoti dropped shots on the first, second fifth and sixth holes against birdies on the third and fourth.

The cut fell at 12-over 148 with 23 pros (tied 21) making it to the final two money-making rounds. Bhu Bahadur Gurung, Rabi Khadka, Bal Bhadra 

Rai, Kamal Tamang, Prabhat Kumar Rajbahak, Rajendra Shrestha Pradhan, Yelamber Singh Adhikari, Dipendra Rayamajhi, Pradeep Kumar Lama, Dhana Bahadur Thapa, Pashupati Sharma, Basanta Raj Gurung, and Bikash Adhikari survived the cut.

Top woman golfer Pratima Sherpa climbed atop the amateur category with the score of seven-over 143 after carding three-under 65 on the second day. Mithun Rai was one stroke behind Sherpa at 144 after shooting two-over 70. Subash Ghising, overnight leader Bipin Tamang, Phuntsok N Lama and Prithvi Malla also made the cut for the final two rounds.

In all, 32 pros and seven amateurs are taking part in the 72-hole tournament sponsored by Nepal’s first professional golfer Ghana Shyam Thapa to mark is 50 years in professional golf.