Aadil Bedi, 17, was the best-performing Indian on the opening day of the Asian Games golf competition in Jakarta on Thursday. Image courtesy Facebook
By Rahul Banerji
Rayhan Thomas and Kshitij Naveed Kaul lost a bit of steam but Aadil Bedi returned a bogey-free 69 to share second place on the opening day of the 18th Asian Games men’s golf competition at the Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta on Thursday.
India were second overall, five shots behind favourites Japan and ahead of Korea, Thailand, China and hosts Indonesia.
Bedi trailed Keita Nakajima of Japan, the current Australian Amateur champion, by one shot alongside early leader Naraaje Emerald Ramadhan Putra of Indonesia, Malaysia’s Ervin Chang and Korea’s Cho Hoy-young with a three-under par 69 each. Nakajima had a day’s best of four under par 68 (see leaderboard here).
Dubai-based Thomas, the top-ranked Indian, was tied 11th on 71 after being 3-under through 13 holes and Kaul was T18 on 73. Japan led the field with a 208 aggregate of the three best cards while India were 213, one better than Korea (214) and Thailand (215). China and Indonesia were T5 on 217.
In the women’s event, Diksha Dagar hit a one under par 71to share seventh place. Sifat Sagoo (75) was 24th and Ridhima Dilawari (77) was T27. With the two best cards counting, India were ninth overall. Japan led the standings on 136 with China (138) and Korea (142) second and third.
The Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta. spans 7,243 yard and plays to par 72. It was designed by Robert Trent-Jones and hosted the 1983 World Cup of Golf.
Drall keeps her lead
In Hyderabad, three birdies kept overnight leader Amandeep Drall at the top of the leader-board in the second round of the 12th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour.
Amandeep, who started the day three ahead of the field, is now 3-over par 145 after two days and leads Sonam Chugh by two shots at the Hyderabad Golf Club.
Hero Order of Merit leader Tvesa Malik,T2 overnight with Sonam, fell to third place with a second successive 3-over 74.
Amandeep, with three wins in her the last four starts, had two early birdies to increase her lead but a triple bogey followed by two more dropped shots all but wiped out her gains.
A late birdie and the inability of the others to cash in on the chance though, kept her ahead of the field.
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Hi, I wonder why do we not send our top professionals to this event. Chances of winning a medal are higher. Other countries send in their professional. And no coach accompanied the team…only officials..Indian beaucracy at its best.
Amit, have checked and tournament rueles say golf at the Asian Ganes is open to amateurs only. Six countries have in fact challenged in the Court of Arbitration for Sport that some countries have fielded professionals. Additionally, the Indian team was selected by the Indian Golf Union, which only deals with the sport for amateurs.