A bogey on the first was the only shot Atwal dropped today. He picked up strokes on the par three's, the third, eighth and 14th holes. He is striking the ball well as was evident from his tap in birdie putt on the 14th, and hitting it much longer than his competitors.

One shot behind is Amritinder Singh, who continued with his consistent play, bringing in yet another round of one under 71. Along with his father, Simran Singh, they have had a unique tournament so far, where the father has had three rounds of six over, 78 and the son, three consecutive 71's.

Results -- 212: Arjun Atwal (71, 71, 69); 213: Amritinder Singh (71, 71, 71); 214: Basad ALI (74, 70, 70), Arjun Singh (73, 72, 69); 215: Shiv Prakash (71, 72, 72), Gaurav Ghei (73, 71, 71); 216: Vijay Kumar (70, 70, 76), MukeshKumar (71, 72, 73); 219: Feroz Ali (72, 71, 76), Sanjay Kumar (70, 75, 74), Shiv SP Chowrasia (74, 75, 70).

Amateurs -- 226: Harjinder Kang (77, 76, 73); 230: Sandy Lehal (71, 78, 81); 231: Vikramjit Singh (80, 76, 75).

Irina Brar triumphs
NEW DELHI: Irina Brar became the youngest ever to win the Siel Ladies Northern India Open Amateur Championships, on Friday. She had yet another round of one over 73 on the final day to aggregate 294 for the tournament. Vandana Aggarwal with a total of seven over 79 on the last day and an aggregate of 307, finished second.

Irina also won the Siel Junior Girls championships (handicap 0-18) with a gross score of 73. Parnita Garewal was second and Guneet Raikhy third.

O'Meara leads US charge
KUALA LUMPUR: Mark O'Meara, winner of the US Masters and British Open titles last year, shot a six-under 65 today to put himself in sight of his first title of 1999. On a day that his US team-mate Tiger Woods showed a rare glimpse offallibility, O'Meara's return to form left the Americans strong favourites to lift the World Cup of Golf here on Sunday.

O'Meara's round, which included seven birdies, and a 68 from Woods put the us on an aggregate 11-under after two rounds of the tournament that left them just one shot behind half-way leaders Spain, for whom both Miguel-Angel Martin and Santiago Luna shot 66's.