By Rahul Banerji
Bangalore golfer Chikkarangappa S. was on fire with a first round 10-under-62 for the lead at the Tata Steel Tour Championship being played at Beldih and Golmuri golf courses in Jamshedpur on Thursday.
Noida’s Amardeep Malik posted an impressive 9-under-63 to hold second place on day one of the Rs. 1.5 crore ($203,800 approx) PGTI event.
Manu Gandas of Gurgaon, Delhi’s Kshitij Naveed Kaul and Arjun Prasad and Harendra Gupta from Chandigarh shared third place with 64s on a low-scoring day.
Tournament favourite Anirban Lahiri fired a 65 for tied seventh along with the Chandigarh duo of Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu.
In round one, half the field played at Beldih Golf Club and the other half at Golmuri Golf Club. Both halves will switch venues in round two.
Chikka, who began his week at Golmuri which produced the lower scores on the day, had an eagle, nine birdies and a bogey on Thursday.
Birdie rush
The 27-year-old reaped the benefits of a new putter early on in his round as he sank birdie putts from a range of 10 to 15 feet on the first, fifth, sixth and seventh holes.
After landing it within three feet on the ninth and 10th, Chikka added two more birdies to his card.
The two-time winner on the Asian Development Tour was relentless thereafter as he picked up birdie-eagle-birdie on the 11th, 12th and 13th to move to an astonishing 10-under for the day.
On the 12th, Chikka recovered from the rough with a nine-iron second shot before converting an 18-footer for eagle. The 13th saw him make another 15-foot conversion.
The Asian Tour regular then found the trees on the 17th that led to his only dropped shot which he cancelled with a birdie on the 18th.
Chikka said later, “I changed my putter this week as I was struggling to hole putts in previous events even though I was stroking it well on the greens.
“The new putter seems to be working for me as I holed a lot of long putts today.
“I’ve been in contention in all events since the tour resumed in November this year. However, I still need to convert my good starts at events into better finishes.
“Hopefully, with my driving, wedge-play and putting now shaping up well, I can have a good result this week.
“Golmuri is more scoring among the two courses this week so I expect Beldih to throw up its own set of challenges when I play there during round two,” added Chikka, who finished second at the PGTI event in Jamshedpur in 2018.
Noida pro on a roll
Noida’s Amardeep Malik, who also played at Golmuri on day one, came up with a flawless round.
Malik was in contention in the last event in Chandigarh lying one off the lead after round three before he finished tied 16th.
On Thursday he made four consecutive birdies on the front nine and back nine.
Malik capitalised on all the four Par-5s – the second, third, 11th and 12th – by picking up birdies. He also drove the green on the Par-4s fourth and 13th to set up birdies.
Gupta and Prasad produced the best scores of 64 at Beldih on Thursday to be tied third with Gandas and Kaul, both of whom were at Golmuri.
Gupta picked up a groin injury while teeing off on the ninth but still managed to return a bogey-free card.
Among other prominent entries, three-time Indian Open winner S.S.P. Chawrasia, a triple titleist in Jamshedpur and local amateur Navtez Singh were both 13th on 67s.
Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur were tied 18th on 68s while Gaganjeet Bhullar and Rahil Gangjee were a further shot back in tied 23rd place.
Defending champion Udayan Mane of Pune shot a 71 to be tied 52nd while Delhi’s Rashid Khan, the highest-ranked Indian in the world, posted a 72 to be tied 60th.
Also read: Kochhar prevails in playoff over Lahiri at Jeev Invitational
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