Kapil Kumar battles injury to lead Golconda Masters, Soni sizzles

By Rahul Banerji

Continuing with his recent run of form, Delhi’s Kapil Kumar fired a nine-under 61 to take the round one lead at the Rs. 40 lakh Telangana Golconda Masters in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Runner-up at his last event in Pune, Kapil had to overcome an injured wrist to lead by a shot at the Hyderabad Golf Association course.

Seventeen-year-old amateur Milind Soni, playing at his home course, struck a brilliant seven-under 63 to be tied second with Gurgaon’s Manu Gandas, a three-time winner on the PGTI this year.

Kapil had seven birdies and an eagle in his bogey-free round after making a flying start with four straight birdies.

An eagle on the par-5 eighth followed by a birdie on the ninth took Kapil to seven under at the turn.

He then produced a couple of great wedge shots on the back nine to add two more birdies to his flawless card.

Kapil said, “I’ve been struggling with a wrist injury since the Pune Open so I just managed to get in one day of practice over the last two weeks.

“Been making frequent trips to the physio too since the last event as an old injury has aggravated. Today I kept in mind my good performance in Pune that helped me score well.”

Quick off the blocks

Soni, who represented India at the Eisenhower Trophy and more recently at the Asia-Pacific Amateur in Chonburi, also made a hot start.

Milind began with an eagle-two as he holed his approach from 134 yards. With his approach game in top shape, the local lad went on to pick up four more birdies on the front nine including three tap-ins.

Soni made further inroads on the back nine with two more birdies including one that came when he drove the green.

The 17-year-old’s only blip was the bogey on the penultimate hole where he found the water.

Milind, a two-time winner on the amateur circuit this year, said, “My approach game was top class and as a result, I had quite a few tap-in birdie putts.

“Starting the week with an eagle gave me a huge boost. I wasn’t aware of my second shot finding the hole so I was quite pleasantly surprised when I walked up to the first green and found out that it had landed in the hole.

“I was confident at the start of the day as this also happens to be my home course.”

Yashas Chandra, Syed Saqib Ahmed, Ravi Kumar and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu were tied for fourth at 64.

Also read: Telangana Masters tees off under Golconda’s ramparts on Wed.