By Rahul Banerji
England’s Steven Brown and Martin Couvra of France hit matching 7 under par 65s on day one of the Delhi Challenge at the Classic Golf and Country Club on Thursday.
Brown carded seven birdies against no dropped shots while the in-form Couvra notched up eight birdies against one dropped stroke to lead to lead the 156-strong field by one, the Challenge Tour website said.
In chase was a large pack that included Andoni Etchenique and Pierre Pineau of France, Englishmen John Parry, Jack Senior and James Allan, Swede Rikard Karlberg and Joshua Grenville-Wood from the UAE.
Trishul Chinnappa, Akshay Sharma and Karan Pratap Singh at 4 under 68 shared 19th place as the best-performing Indians at the event which is part of the DP World Tour feeder series.
A stroke behind in 36th place on the bunched-up leaderboard were Varun Parikh, Shamim Khan, Arjun Prasad, Dhruv Sheoran and Sachin Baisoya besides PGTI regular Badal Hossain of Bangladesh.
PGTI merit leader Manu Gandas, who played on the DP World Tour last year was part of another large group on 2 under 70 that also included England’s Sam Hutsby, fifth on the Road to Mallorca standings.
Clean card
Brown arrived in India late and after going bogey-free on the final day of the Magical Kenya Open two weeks ago, was delighted to continue that run of form at the course in Nuh, near Gurgaon.
“I played really well so I can’t complain,” he said later. “I found something with my swing yesterday and played well in practice so I couldn’t ask for more.
“I was bogey-free in Kenya in my last round before coming here, so I’m on to something at the moment, I’ve just got to keep it going.
“I hit loads of good shots and played pretty solid. I think I missed one green and holed a couple of decent putts which always helps.”
Couvra, 10th on the Road to Mallorca ahead of back-to-back events in Gurgaon and Kolkata, had a good day on the greens that included three long putts, on the second, 13th and 15th holes.
The 20-year-old became only the seventh amateur to win on the Challenge Tour, at the Challenge de España last year, and having turned professional soon after, he thinks that experience is paying dividends already in 2024.
“I’m really happy with my game today,” he said. “The greens were very quick but I liked it, it was good to test myself on them. The course is in great shape.
“The win last year was pretty good for me and gave me a lot of confidence for my game this year.
“I know the setup now, I know the feeling of the tournaments and I know a lot of the guys that I’m playing with which helps.”
Nine players were T10 on 5 under par 67 including Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy, Spaniards Victor Pastor and Joel Moscatel, and Scotsman Daniel Young.
Also read: Inaugural Delhi Challenge to tee off at Classic GCC on Thursday
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