Jakarta, Indonesia: Varoon Parmar, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army, fired a second-round 68 to march into contention at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Mid-Amateur Championships.

Winner of the World Military Golf Championships in Kenya in June, 43-year-old Parmar snared five birdies at the Gading Raya Golf Club.

The solitary blemish on his scorecard came at the par-five 18th where he three-putted, missing a three-footer for par. Had he converted his 30-foot birdie attempt he’d have closed the gap on pace-setting Japanese Yutaka Toyoshima to just two shots.

As it stands, however, five-time Japan Mid-Amateur champion Toyoshima leads the way on 136 following a second-round 70 with Indonesian Alit Jiwandana three strokes adrift in second place.

Part of a four-strong Indian Golf Union contingent competing this week, one-handicapper Parmar will head into Thursday’s final round in a share of third spot on four-under 140, alongside reigning Japan Mid-Amateur champion Kazuma Inaba.

“This is my first time to Indonesia and I’m finding the weather and the course challenging,” said Parmar, whose home club is SEPTA (Shivalik Environmental Park and Training Area) Golf Course in Chandigarh. “I’m enjoying the experience and will just try my best in the final round.”

Also making a move today was 35-year-old Jiwandana, the face of MainGolfYuk (Let's Play Golf), a leading player in golfing social media in Indonesia with a strong presence on Instagram and YouTube, boasting more than 20,000 subscribers.

A former junior national team representative, Jiwandana, who lives near the Gading Raya club and knows the course well, made four birdies in round two, highlighted by a chip-in from off the green at the 11th.

“After playing with Yutaka in the first round, I realised his game is at a different level. My target is to be the best Indonesia,” said Jiwandana, who has extra motivation to win given that the Indonesia Golf Association has granted exemptions for the APGC Mid-Amateur champion to play in the Asian Development Tour’s Ciputra Golfpreneur at Damai Indah next week and the Asian Tour’s Mandiri Indonesia Open at Pondok Indah at the end of the month.

All 74 players in the field will have an extra incentive during the final round with the Amateur Golfers Indonesia putting up a one billion Rupiah prize fund (about US$61,750). Each of the four par-threes will offer Rupiah 250 million (about US$15,437) for the first player to achieve a hole-in-one.

Having soared to the top of the leaderboard with an opening six-under 66, 48-year-old Toyoshima looked set to extend his four-stroke overnight advantage after a blistering start to round two that saw him birdie four of the first seven holes.

But a rare misjudgement resulted in a dropped shot at the ninth after under-hitting his chip and missing a 10-footer for par that halted his momentum. A further bogey at the short 14th may have given hope to his pursuers, but the Japanese remains in control of his destiny.

In addition to leading the way overall, Toyoshima is 13 shots clear of Hong Kong’s Syren Johnstone and Indian Ashish Kapoor in Group D, for players aged 47 and above.

Other age-group leaders are Muhammad Luthfi Haiban (Group A, 25-29 years old); Jiwandana (Group B, 30-37 years old) and Parmar (Group C, 38-46 years old).

Leading Overall Standings

136 – Yutaka Toyoshima (Japan) 66-70
139 – Alit Jiwandana (Indonesia) 70-69
140 – Varoon Parmar (India) 72-68; Kazuma Inaba (Japan) 70-70
144 – Andy Sjaichudin (Indonesia) 74-70
145 – Muhammad Luthfi Haiban (Indonesia) 73-72; Ranjit Singh (India) 73-72; James Gill (Hong Kong) 72-73
146 – Muhammad Ridhwan (Indonesia) 75-71
147 – Arjun Singh (India) 74-73; Navtez Singh (India) 71-76
148 – Jeffrey Chow (Hong Kong) 76-72; Subur Christiano (Indonesia) 73-75
149 – Syren Johnstone (Hong Kong) 75-74; Ashish Kapoor (India) 75-74
150 – Angki Trijaka (Indonesia) 75-75; Kyaw Ko Ko Chit (Myanmar) 73-77; Farisyi (Indonesia) 72-78

Group A
(ages 25-29)

145 – Muhammad Luthfi Haiban (Indonesia) 73-72
146 – Muhammad Ridhwan (Indonesia) 75-71
153 – Zachary Kristian Suryahimsa (Indonesia) 73-80
154 – Amir Luqman Rohadi (Malaysia) 75-79
156 – Imran Marzuqi Iszhar (Malaysia) 74-82

Group B
(ages 30-37)

139 – Alit Jiwandana (Indonesia) 70-69
140 – Kazuma Inaba (Japan) 70-70
144 – Andy Sjaichudin (Indonesia) 74-70
148 – Jeffrey Chow (Hong Kong) 76-72
150 – Kyaw Ko Ko Chit (Myanmar) 73-77

Group C
(ages 38-46)

140 – Varoon Parmar (India) 72-68
145 – Ranjit Singh (India) 73-72; James Gill (Hong Kong) 72-73
147 – Arjun Singh (India) 74-73; Navtez Singh (India) 71-76

Group D
(ages 47 and above)

136 – Yutaka Toyoshima (Japan) 66-70
149 – Syren Johnstone (Hong Kong) 75-74; Ashish Kapoor (India) 75-74
152 – Amit Luthra (India) 77-75
153 – Sulaiman Limpo (Indonesia) 74-79