Chandigarh's Abhijit claims lead on opening day

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

The city’s Abhijit Singh Chadha played well in the rainy conditions to seize an early initiative at the Rs 40-lakh Pune Open Golf Championship being played at the Poona Club Golf Course.

Chadha’s fiery 7-under 63 gave him the clubhouse lead on a day that witnessed rain from the start of play till the end. Gurugram-based rookie Kartik Sharma and Delhi’s Wasim Khan were tied second in the clubhouse with scores of 4-under 66.

Chadha, a two-time winner on the PGTI, bogeyed the first. However, he fought back with a terrific tee shot on the par-3 fourth where he had a tap-in for birdie. He then got on a roll from the seventh onwards where he made a 20-foot birdie conversion. The next three holes saw him make birdie-eagle-birdie. He chipped-in for eagle on the par-4 ninth. He capitalised on the two par-5s, the 12th and 18th, by laying up and hitting his wedge shots to perfection to pick up two more birdies.

“I didn’t start well but things changed for the better from the seventh where my second shot hit the flag and rolled back off the green. I made a long putt there and that got me going. What followed was a good momentum stretch for me,” said Chadha.

Sharma had an eventful day as he mixed an eagle and six birdies with four bogeys. Khan, meanwhile, had a poor start with a bogey on the first but then turned it around with a birdie on the ninth followed by four more on the last five holes.

Among the players who finished, Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta had the next best score of 67. He was fourth in the clubhouse. Rajiv Niranjan Datar had the best opening day among the Pune-based players as he shot a 70 to be tied 16th in the clubhouse.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.