By Rahul Banerji
After a week waiting for a break in Singapore, Karandeep Kochhar made the most of his first day out in a new city with the lead in the Chennai Open Golf Championship on Tuesday.
On his maiden visit to the southern metropolis, the Chandigarh golfer shot a seven-under 65 to lead the field by one in round one at the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation course in the heart of Chennai.
Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja was second on 6-under 66 while last week’s winner Khalin Joshi of Bangalore was third on 67 in the Rs. 50 lakh event presented by Impiger Technologies.
Arjun Sharma of Jaypee Greens, runner-up last week in Coimbatore, struck a hole-in-one on the sixth during his round of 69 that had him tied for ninth.
Kochhar, who made a last-minute decision to head to Chennai as he was on the wait list for an Asian Tour event, ran off four straight birdies early in his round with to some quality hitting and wedge shots.
A four-time PGTI winner, Kochhar’s 15-foot birdie conversion on nine got him going with mid-range putts, an aspect he was struggling with till then.
Accurate conversions
Karandeep, amongst the event favourites, then added three more birdies and a bogey on the back nine including two conversions from a range of 15 to 20 feet.
“It’s always important to put yourself in position on day one so I’m quite pleased with this start,” Kochhar said later.
“I’m playing at TNGF for the first time like a lot of players this week but I feel I adapted to the conditions well.
“Interestingly, this course is a little similar to my home course Chandigarh Golf Club as both courses are tree-lined.
“The long-range birdie putt on the last hole was a big confidence-booster as I was in trouble twice on that hole and managed to salvage the situation. It gives me the momentum going into round two.”
Lipping out
Thangaraja kept a clean card making six birdies in all and also missed an ace by a whisker on his opening hole of the tournament.
The resulting birdie triggered off a run as he picked up five more shots thanks to some precise approach play.
In a group tied for fourth on 68 were Nepal’s Sukra Bahadur Rai, Gurgaon-based golfers Kartik Sharma and Manu Gandas, Chandigarh’s Ranjit Singh and Hyderabad’s Mohd Azhar.
Tour rookie Sunhit Bishnoi sank two eagles, on the fifth and eighth, during his round of 69 to be tied ninth.
Defending champion Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka shot a 72 to be tied 37th.
Among the Chennai-based professionals, S. Prasanth and C. Arul, were the highest-placed on level par 72s and T37.
Also read: Khalin Joshi nails Players title with flawless final round
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