Gangjee T-4th after strong finish, Lowry leads

Rahil Gangjee pulled off a 55-footer on the 18th hole to jump into the top-10 of the leaderboard on Day 1 of the DP World India Championship at the Delhi Golf Club. Gangjee was tied-4th with a 5-under 67, while the 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry posted an impressive five birdies in a row for an opening round of 64 to lead the field by one shot. Japan’s Keita Nakajima (65) was second.

Dhruv Sheoran, who shot a 4-under 68, is tied-7th. Another Indian, Yuvraj Sandhu, who is the current leader on the PGTI Order of Merit, carded a 3-under 69 to stay tied-17th. Anirban Lahiri and Abhinav Lohan carded 2-under 70s to be tied-28th.

Among the big names, Tommy Fleetwood, Brian Harman, Ben Griffin and Luke Donald, with 68s, were tied-7th, while the biggest draw this year Rory McIlroy (69) was tied-17th.

Earlier Nakajima, who won the Hero Indian Open in 2024, had led for much of the day before getting overshadowed by Lowry.

“Obviously, it is great to finish 5-under in the first round. The game was okay last week but before that, not so great. So I am really glad that it turned out the way it did today,” Gangjee said.

“I have played this place (DGC) a thousand times so I am not shocked by the way I played. But having seen my results in the last eight months, I wasn’t expecting it. I made some changes to my putting stroke, my putting grip, so I am glad it’s working out,” he added.

Sandhu was delighted with his play, and said, “I’m really proud that I stayed disciplined off the tee. Literally had a hot putter from 15. I had a clean card otherwise and I was patient throughout the round. You’ve just got to be patient and it will pay you back.”

Playing alongside Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup captain Donald and teammate Fleetwood, Lowry opened his birdie account at the par-three fifth before getting another on the sixth. The Irishman made four pars before getting his next birdie at the 11th hole. After sending his tee shot at the short 12th to 10 feet and knocking in the putt, Lowry holed from a similar range on the 13th for a hat-trick of birdies. He then took advantage of the par-five 14th before rolling in from eight feet on the 15th to make it five in a row.

“I putted nicely today. I played nice. Gave myself a lot of chances and then I birdied a few on the back nine, it was pretty nice. You know, 64 is a really nice score. It is not that hard when you hit it in play out there but when you start missing fairways it becomes quite tricky. I’m pretty happy with that,” Lowry said.