Germany’s Hirmer is the early leader, Bajaj T2 at The Challenge

By Rahul Banerji

Yet another Indian golfer grabbed his Challenge Tour moment in Bangalore with Divyanshu Bajaj taking a share of second place on Tuesday.

Germany’s Michael Hirmer shot a sizzling eight-under 64 for the early lead at The Challenge presented by KGA, Bajaj sitting three shots back with two others.

The $300,000 event is the second Challenge Tour-PGTI co-sanctioned event at the KGA in succession after last week’s Black Bull Challenge.

Bajaj’s impressive 65 saw him alongside Germany’s Philipp Katich and Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick, while Kartik Sharma and Mari Muthu were in tied fifth place on 66 along with six others, the PGTI said.

Hirmer, who hails from Munich and is playing in his rookie season on the Challenge Tour, began in style with six birdies on the back nine where he had four long conversions and a tap-in.

The 26-year-old added three more birdies in exchange for a bogey on the front nine and also drove the green on the par-4 first hole.

Flying start

Hirmer, who finished tied 18^th  last week, said, “I got off to a great start, my putter was really hot and I was in a nice flow this morning.

“Hit some good irons today and stayed patient. Last week I played well but didn’t make my putts. It was nice to see some putts drop today.

“I love the weather and the grass here. It’s a different style course but I think the layout is great. I have a few birdie holes on my mind and the focus is to try and get pin high on every approach.

“It’s important to hit fairways on this course and I’ve done a good job of that so far.”

Bajaj made a solid start a 25-foot birdie conversion and a hole-in-one three holes later.

The 33-year-old from Kolkata then dropped a shot immediately when he found the trees twice.

Bajaj rallied with five birdies in the next seven holes where he drained some long putts. He set up a tap-in on the third with a terrific wedge shot from the rough from 150 yards.  

Long time coming

Divyanshu, searching for his maiden title, said, “It’s been a long time since I shot such a low score. I was playing well and performing consistently on the PGTI till 2019 just prior to the onset of Covid.

“But thereafter I had some health issues due to which I struggled on the golf course. I’ve addressed the health problems with some changes in my lifestyle such as restrictions in my diet.

“The changes along with my self-belief have helped me get my game back on track.

“I had an excellent start today and the hole-in-one on 13 was a huge confidence booster. After making bogey on 14, I came back really well.

“Very stable from there on and kept the errors out of my game even though I missed a couple of birdie opportunities from 10 feet on the front-nine.

“I like this golf course as I’ve had some good finishes on the PGTI here. I’m carrying those good memories into this week.”

Kartik Sharma scored seven birdies and a bogey during his 66 including four birdie conversions from between 10 and 25 feet.

Mari Muthu, playing at his home course, produced some excellent drives and wedge shots during his round that included seven birdies and a bogey.

Aman Raj and Khalin Joshi were T16 with rounds of 68, Karandeep Kochhar and Chikkarangappa S. were T47 on 70 while last week’s winner Om Prakash Chouhan and Rashid Khan were a further shot back in tied 66^th.

Also read: Ice-cool Chouhan earns first int’l title at Black Bull Challenge