Seven Indians in top 15 as Thailand’s Suradit leads Panasonic Open

By Rahul Banerji

Three birdies in his last five holes gave Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai a one-shot lead over the field in the $400,000 Panasonic Open India at the Delhi Golf Club on Thursday.

Ajeetesh Sandhu and Tapy Ghai with Bangladesh pro Siddikur Rahman were a shot behind the young Thai who overtook them at the very end with his six under par 66.

Suradit, fith last week at the Asian Tour event in Pakistan, had seven birdies against one bogey.

India still had representation on the leaderboard as two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan (68) and 22-year-old Veer Ahlawat were tied fifth alongside Thais Jazz Janewattananond and Peradol Panyathanasedh.

Motivated

Jeev Milkha Singh who hosts an invitational in Chandigarh next week was tied ninth at 3-under 69, alongside 19-year-old Karandeep Kochhar and DGC’s Kapil Kumar.

“Maybe the fact that my tournament is coming up and seeing so many bright youngsters is inspiring me,” said Jeev with a huge smile. “I felt good and hopefully I can carry on like this.”

Said Suradit, “I played really good today. I hit a lot of fairways. My tee shots were very good today and that was the key to play well here. I gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities.

“Obviously I am riding on my good form as well. I finished tied-fifth in Pakistan two weeks ago and was joint runner-up when I last played in India two months ago. I haven’t changed my routine much so I will keep doing what I have been doing.”

Lucky venue

For Bangladesh veteran Siddikur, the DGC has been a happy hunting ground. In 2004 he won  the All-India Amateurs and  between 2010 and 2015, had 12 top-10 finishes on Asian Tour events at the venue.

Those include four each at the Panasonic Open India, the Hero Indian Open which he won in 2013 and the SAIL-SBI.

“The DGC is without doubt my favourite course and I have such great memories of it,” he said with a smile.

“Those memories and the fact that I have decided not to put any pressure on myself, despite a not-too-good season helped me today.”

It was also a trial by fire for many of the young Indian professionals. While Ghai and Ahlawat were on song, some of the others struggled.

Only Kshitij Naveed Kaul had a leven par 72, while Aadil Bedi (77) and Yuvraj Sandhu (81) found the going tough in their first venture in the paid ranks.

Bedi was tied 109t and Sandhu tied 123^rd.

Bhullar even at Shanghai

Meanwhile, in Shanghai, Gaganjeet Bhullar returned a level par round of 72 on the first day of the WGC-HSBC Champions.

However, Shubhankar Sharma was unable to tame the windy conditions at the Sheshan International Golf Club and crashed to an 8-over 80.

Bhullar was in a share of 27^thplace as only a third of the field broke par. Sharma, who had a tied ninth place finish at his maiden WGC appearance in Mexico earlier this year was 77^th and last as Eddie Pepperell and Chris Wood withdrew.

Masters champion Patrick Reed fired a brilliant opening 64 in windy conditions as he turned out for the first time since the Ryder Cup.

Reed hit eight birdies in an error -free round that had him two shots ahead of fellow Americans Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele.

Bhullar had three birdies and as many bogeys though he needed 30 putts for his round.

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