By Rahul Banerji
Abhijit Singh Chadha made the most of home conditions to take the round one lead at the Rs. 50 lakh Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Tuesday.
Chadha’s dream start saw him shoot a 6-under 66 that included a hole-in-one on the 14th.
On a windy day when scoring was not easy, Gurgaon’s Kartik Sharma produced the day’s only bogey-free card to be tied second on 5-under 67, the PGTI said.
Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah and Ravi Kumar from Chandimandir also struck 67s to join southpaw Kartik for a share of second place.
Chadha, a three-time PGTI winner, made a solid start with birdies on the second and fifth, landing his approach within six feet on the latter.
The 30-year-old, who won in Pune last year, then shot up the leaderboard with birdie on 13 followed by the ace one on 14
Minor blip
Chadha had a minor blip on 15 where he dropped a shot but made up with birdies on 16 and 17. He drove the green on the par-4 17th.
“The wind didn’t affect me much as I play here day in and day out and know my way around the course,” Chadha, who scored on three of the four par-5s on day one, said later.
“However, I feel the heat will be the bigger challenge this week. In that sense, we got lucky today with the weather as it wasn’t that hot.
“The form has been good but I feel that I haven’t peaked yet. I’m just beginning to play well. I’m confident of playing well this week as I know the conditions well here.
“The hole-in-one was special as it turned out to be a perfect 7-iron shot.”
Kartik Sharma got going early with three birdies on the first six holes. He then had a quiet stretch till 16 before closing in style with birdies on the last two holes which included a quality chip-putt on 17.
Sharma said, “It’s quite satisfying to go error-free in tough conditions like we had today.
Focussed putter
“My putting form has been off and on so I just focused on that aspect in the practice round on Monday. I told myself to keep trusting my putting.
“This is one of those courses which doesn’t suit my eye but every time I play here I learn something new about this course that helps me perform better.”
Both Mollah and Ravi Kumar traded six birdies for a bogey on Tuesday. Zamal was in top form with the driver as he missed just one fairway.
Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja, Kshitij Naveed Kaul and Shivendra Singh Sisodia shared fifth place with rounds of 68.
There were seven golfers bunched in tied eighth at 69 including Indian golfing great Gaurav Ghei as well as Tricity golfers Ranjit Singh and Angad Cheema.
Among the other prominent names, Udayan Mane and Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu were tied 15th on 2-under 70.
Defending champion Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh carded a 71 to be tied 24th.
Fifty-eight-year-old amateur golfer Justice Anupinder Grewal, a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, shot a 79 in round one to be tied 111th.
Justice Grewal had earlier won the qualifying event organised by the Chandigarh Golf Club on Monday to make it to the main draw of the PGTI Players Championship.
Also read: Yuvraj Sandhu, Kochhar lead local push at Players Championship
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