PGTI Players Championship: Chandra dominates Day 1 at Panchkula

Panchkula, September 8

Yashas Chandra set the bar with a top-notch 7-under 65 in the opening round of the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship at the Panchkula Golf Club here today.

The 26-year-old Mysuru golfer, who finished tied-11th on the PGTI last week, continued his good run with an error-free effort at one of his favoured venues.

Reigning PGTI Order of Merit champion Rashid Khan of Delhi carded an impressive 5-under 67 to close the opening day in tied 2nd place along with Kolkata’s Sunit Chowrasia and Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat.

“I’ve played well at the Panchkula Golf Course in the past and that kind of helped heading into this week. I finished fourth here back in 2019 having shot a 7-under in one of the rounds. I also made three eagles in my opening round at the same event,” said Chandra.

Two-time Asian Tour winner Khan mixed six birdies with a bogey during his 67. His round featured some quality approach shots and up and downs. He closed the day with a 15-feet birdie conversion on the 9th.

Chowrasia too had six birdies and a bogey while Veer Ahlawat sank seven birdies against two bogeys to share second place with Khan.

Chandigarh’s Ranjit Singh was the highest-placed tricity golfer at 5th place with a card of 68.

Eight players, including the Chandigarh trio of Karandeep Kochhar, Abhijit Singh Chadha and Amritinder Singh, are bunched in tied 6th place with a total of 69.

Bengaluru duo of Chikkarangappa and M Dharma, Kolkata’s Shankar Das, Mhow-based Om Prakash Chouhan and Delhi’s Kartik Sharma also shared the sixth place.

Defending champion Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh and Gurugram-based Manu Gandas, winner on the PGTI last week, shared the 26th place with a card of 72. — TNS