By Rahul Banerji
Bengal Open winner Aadil Bedi set the early pace with a flawless 7-under-par 65 on his home course in round one of the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020 at Chandigarh Golf Club on Monday.
Karandeep Kochhar, also from Chandigarh, Gurgaon’s Veer Ahlawat and Divyanshu Bajaj of Kolkata shared second place on 6-under-66s at Panchkula Golf Club, the PGTI’s media office said.
The Rs 30 lakh tournament is being played across Chandigarh GC and Panchkula GC for the first two days, as was the case with last week’s event.
On Monday, half the field was at Chandigarh and the other at Panchkula. In round two, both halves of the field will switch venues. The third and fourth rounds will be played at Chandigarh.
Hot putter
Bedi, who won the PGTI event played just prior to the lockdown in March this year, had a good day with the putter. Among his seven birdies, five were conversions from a range of 15 to 40 feet.
The 19-year-old, who shared 12th place in Panchkula last week, also made two quality up and downs, one for birdie on the second and the other for par from 30 yards on the ninth.
“The putter was hot today and importantly I kept the errors out by putting the ball in play,” Bedi said later.
“I hadn’t performed as per my expectations last week so there was some extra motivation for me to do well today in familiar conditions. It was my best ever score in a tournament at Chandigarh.
“I’ve learnt from my last week’s performance where I was eight-under through the first 27 holes but then made a few unnecessary errors.
Staying sharp
“I guess I took a few things for granted. This week I’m trying to stay in the moment and giving the course due respect.”
Kochhar, Ahlawat and Bajaj’s scores accounted for the best effort in Panchkula on day one.
Kochhar, runner-up last week, continued from where he left off at Panchkula on Saturday with a bogey-free run.
The 21-year-old’s birdies included a 25-foot conversion, a pin-point approach from 145 yards on the eighth that landed inside two feet of the pin and a drive on the par-4 11th that found the green.
Kochhar said, “My short-game was sharp today and I also made two crucial up and downs for par on the last two holes besides all the birdies.
“Fortunately for me, I feel I’m once again on the right side of the draw similar to last week.
“I played Panchkula today and will now play Chandigarh for three straight days, making it easier to adjust to the conditions rather than switching venues twice.”
Familiar turf
Ahlawat too enjoyed the advantage of beginning the week at Panchkula as he had shot two low rounds at the same venue last week.
His 66 featured seven birdies and a bogey. Most of Ahlawat’s birdies were drained from a range of six to 10 feet. He also drove the par-4 11th green to set up a birdie.
Bajaj, who arrived in Chandigarh one week prior to the resumption of events in order to spend time with coach Gurbaaz Mann, did not drop a shot during his 66, including putts from 15 feet and 35 feet.
Karnal’s Mani Ram was in fifth place with a 67 while six players shared the sixth spot with scores of 68 including defending champion Rashid Khan of Delhi and Chandigarh’s Amrit Lal.
Among those in tied 12th on 69 were PGTI Order of Merit leader Udayan Mane of Pune, Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa and last week’s winner Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh.
Chikkarangppa S. and Khalin Joshi, both of Bangalore, were in tied 19th with 70s.
Also read: Aadil Bedi ends Udayan Mane’s run in longest domestic play-off
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