By Rahul Banerji
Asian Tour winner Khalin Joshi emerged the early leader at the inaugural $1 million Singapore International on 5-under 67 at the Tanah Merah Country Club on Thursday.
Navigating the strong wind, that blew at over 35 kmph occasionally, 2018 Panasonic Open India champion Joshi hit seven birdies against two bogeys on his way to a two-shot lead.
England’s William Harrold was second on 3-under 69 while Ajeetesh Sandhu and Paul Peterson of the US were tied for third a further shot behind.
Three Indians from a 16-strong contingent were in the top-10 at the Asian Tour’s penultimate event of the 2020-21 season which Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia had to miss with a Covid bout.
Joshi missed only three greens in regulation on his front nine, two of which led to dropped shots but hit nine of nine on the way home.
“It was obviously a very challenging golf course to start off with; it’s long, it’s windy and the flags were all tough, so it wasn’t very easy, greens are firm,” the Bangalore-based Joshi told asiantour.com.
“I’m just very pleased with the way I’m playing and with the way my round went today. Hopefully we can continue with the way I’m playing and see what happens at the end of the week.”
Joshi has family in Singapore including his grandmother, sister and uncle, and has been visiting the Lion Island since his childhood, the website noted.
Feel-good factor
“It’s been a while since I’ve led on the Asian Tour. It’s obviously feeling very good. But it’s a four-day tournament, so you know, there’s a long way to go still.
“It’s a challenging golf course, everybody is going to make mistakes.
“The key is to stay patient and whenever you have the chance to make birdies to capitalise, and you know, just enjoy the set because it’s going to be a long week for sure.”
Sandhu, a four-time PGTI winner including the 2019 Jeev Milkha Invitational at home in Chandigarh hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation on his way to a 2-under card that had four birdies against two dropped shots.
The 33-year-old is also an Asian Tour winner, taking the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship title in 2017, the year he finished runner-up at the Macao Open and the Panasonic Open India too.
Fellow-Chandigarh golfer Abhijit Singh Chadha was tied for ninth place on level par 72 while Shubhankar Sharma made a late recovery to finish on 1-over 73 in tied 20th place.
Domestic Order of Merit topper this year, Udayan Mane was T31 on 2-over 74 while Rashid Khan and Chikkarngappa S. were T45 on 3-over 75s.
Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond and Pavit Tangkamoprasert, Chan Shih-chang from Chinese Taipei, and South African Mathiam Keyser returned 71s to share fifth place.
Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, Wade Ormsby of Australia shot a 72 alongside Sandhu.
Sunit Chowrasia, Karandeep Kochhar, and Viraj Madappa returned 5-over 77s for shared 68th place.
Jeev Milkha Singh was 6-over with Veer Ahlawat, and Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur were on 7-over 79s.
Also read: Khalin Joshi edges out master of DGC Siddikur for Panasonic Open title
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