Honey Baisoya was in a three-way tie for the lead after the opening day of the inaugural Rs 1 crore Calance Open at the Qutab course in New Delhi on Tuesday. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Pukhraj Singh Gill, Tapendra Ghai and Honey Baisoya carded 6 under par 66s in the opening round of the Rs 1 crore Calance Open at the Qutab Golf Course in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Five players shared fourth place on 5 under 65 at the par-70 course which is playing host to a men’s domestic tour event after 15 years, the PGTI said.
They included Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu, who made birdies on his last four holes, as well as Karandeep Kochhar, another Chandigarh golfer, along with Bangladesh’s Badal Hossain, Delhi’s Kapil Kumar and Kolkata’s Shankar Das.
Ludhiana-based Gill, who was also the first-round leader at last week’s event in Ahmedabad, didn’t have the best of starts on Tuesday with a bogey on hole 12.
However, the 28-year-old rebounded with two birdies to make the turn at one-under.
He then added five more gains on the front nine thanks to his great driving, accurate pitching and consistent short to mid distance putting.
“I’m playing a professional event here at Qutab Golf Course for the first time and the last time I played here was about 15 years back when I was a junior,” Gill said.
“The course has changed a lot since then and poses a lot more challenges now. The fairways are narrow and it’s a risk-reward course where there is a premium on good course management.
“I did really well on the short par-4s today thanks to my good drives and pitches as well as my putting especially from a range of five to 10 feet.
Ludhiana’s Pukhraj Singh Gill held the day one lead at a PGTI event for the second week in a row, this time in Delhi on Tuesday. Image courtesy PGTI.
Learning curve
“The learning from my previous experiences after I’ve made a good start has been to not try too hard. The more I lead, the more familiar I get with how to handle such situations.”
Baisoya and Ghai, both of whom hail from Gurgaon’s DLF Golf & Country Club, had slightly different cards on the day. While Honey went bogey-free, Ghai signed for eight birdies and two bogeys.
Baisoya made two birdie conversions from between 12 and 15 feet but also missed out on two eagle opportunities from 10 feet.
The highlight of his round though was a par save from 15 feet on 17 where he had found trouble with his first two shots.
Chandigarh-based 15-year-old amateur Neil Jolly shot a 68 to be the highest-placed among the amateurs at tied 23rd.
Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya, the winner in Ahmedabad last week and currently second on the PGTI Order of Merit, returned a 73 to be tied 95th.
Also read: Sachin Baisoya wins Indorama Ventures Open in playoff over Mane
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