By Rahul Banerji
Gaurav Pratap Singh of Noida and Gurgaon’s Sunhit Bishnoi shared the day one lead at the inaugural India Cements Pro Championship in Chennai on Wednesday.
The opening 6 under par 66s by the pair also ensured the second half of the Tata Steel PGTI’s season would get off to a cracking start at the TNGA Cosmo Golf Course.
Competition at the Rs. 50 lakh event was evident from the packed leaderboard with seven other players within one shot of the lead in tied third place.
Gaurav Pratap Singh, who ended a 14-year title wait on his home NGC track in April showed the summer break had not affected his rhythm, hitting seven birdies and a bogey.
The 39-year-old, sixth on the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings, produced some good iron shots to pick up a couple of birdies on the back nine.
Rich returns
He then hit a purple patch with five straight birdies where he set up three tap-ins. His only bogey came on the fifth hole.
“A win is always a huge boost for a golfer or for any other sportsman for that matter. After the win in April, I’m obviously playing with an altogether different mindset now,” Singh said.
“In the mid-season break, I worked on some aspects of my game and changed a couple of things that have also helped me. I was hitting my irons close today and reaped the rewards for it.”
Bishnoi, who turned professional last year, also had seven birdies and a bogey on the day.
The 22-year-old, bronze medallist for Haryana at the National Games last year, landed his wedges close and sank three long putts.
The highlight of his round was however his tee shot on the par-4 third hole that landed just short of the green and led to a two-putt for birdie.
Bishnoi said, “I capitalised on my good wedge shots today. I come into this week with a lot of confidence in my short game.
Making progress
“This being my second season as a professional, I feel a lot more at home in this environment now among the best professionals in the country.
“The off-season allowed me to focus on my fitness, nutrition and swing changes which could all make a huge difference for me in the coming months.”
The seven bunched in third place on 67 were Pukhraj Singh Gill, Jairaj Singh Sandhu, Ankur Chadha, Arjun Prasad, Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain and Sri Lankans N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran.
Thangaraja had finished runner-up at the PGTI event at Cosmo last season.
New sticks
Pukhraj, armed with a new set, said, “I made most of the par-5s today, making birdies on three out of the four par-5s with terrific drives on two of them.
“My other birdies came as a result of some great wedge shots. My caddie Sachin, who was on the bag for me for the first time today, made a huge contribution to my round helping me with my course management.”
PGTI Order of Merit leader Om Prakash Chouhan shot a 68 to be tied 10th while another top contender Aman Raj returned a 70 to be tied 27th.
Chennai-based amateur Pranav Nandakumar carded a 76 to be the highest-placed among the local players at tied 82nd.
Also read: PGTI season resumes with inaugural India Cements C’ship
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