Rahil Gangjee Tied 11th at Midway Stage in Taipei
Rahil Gangjee is now one-over 145 and is four shots behind the leader, Brazilian Adilson Da Silva (66).
On a rather windy day, Rahil Gangjee (71) rode on three birdies on the front nine to move into tied 11th position at the end of the halfway stage of the USD650,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters here on Friday.
Gangjee is now one-over 145 and is four shots behind the leader, Brazilian Adilson Da Silva (66).
Two others Indians, Jyoti Randhawa (75-72) in tied 26th and SSP Chowrasia (72-77) in tied 49th made the cut. But three others Chiragh Kumar (77-73), Sujjan Singh (72-79) and Himmat Rai (74-78) missed the cut.
Gangjee, who is currently 10th on the Order of Merit, needs to stay in top-10 of the Money List to qualify for the CIMB Classic.
He had birdies on first, seventh and ninth but dropped bogeys on 10th and 12th.
Da Silva soared into the lead with his blistering six-under-66 after opening with a 75.
Friday saw a lot of gusty winds, reaching up to 52 mph at the challenging Taiwan Golf and Country Club's Tamsui course.
Da Silva shot a flawless front nine with three birdies and one eagle to turn in 31 before dropping a shot on the 13th hole. He recovered by adding two more birdies on his way home to mark a two-day total of three-under-par 141.
Filipino veteran Antonio Lascuna battled to a 69 to tie with Australian duo Marcus Both and Andrew Dodt in second place on 144 at the long-running Mercuries Taiwan Masters, which is celebrating its 28th edition this week.
Overnight leader Lionel Weber of France failed to emulate his opening round magic as he stumbled with an 80 to slip out of contention.
The Mercuries Taiwan Masters is the penultimate tournament for players to qualify for the CIMB Classic and WGC-HSBC Champions.
As of October 20, the leading four golfers from the Order of Merit will earn starting places in the USD 8.5 million HSBC Champions, while the leading 10 players will qualify for the USD 7 million CIMB Classic.