Kapil Kumar takes round one lead at Pune Open Championship

By Rahul Banerji

Delhi’s Kapil Kumar emerged as the day one leader at the sixth Pune Open Golf Championship with a seven-under-par 59 at the Poona Club on Wednesday.

Recent heavy rain resulted in waterlogging on some stretches at the Poona Club Golf Course. As a result, hole no. 5 was reduced from a Par-4 to a Par-3 and six was not played.

Round one was consequently played over 17 holes and par for the course was reduced to 66 instead of the regular 71.

There was also a 90-minute delay in the morning due to the conditions and as a result, 12 golfers out of a total of 126 were unable to finish thanks to the fading light.

Chandigarh’s Angad Cheema was second on six-under 60 while Mysore’s Aalaap I.L. and Bangalore’s M. Dharma were tied for third on five-under 61.

Kapil Kumar started the day from the first tee and showed that he meant business right away, birdieing the first, eighth, and ninth holes.

On his way back to the clubhouse, Kapil birdied 10, 12, 14, and 18  to wrap up a clean first round. 

“I am happy with the way I played today,” Kapil said later.

Sticking to basics

“My putting was excellent and I also hit the ball well. Given the heavy rains and weather conditions, my only agenda was to stick to the basics and hit most fairways and greens.

“I am glad I could execute my strategy on the course. I played my wedges well too.”

Cheema began on a shaky note on the other hand, bogeying the first hole.

He however came back strongly with birdies on the second, third and seventh holes before dropping a second shot on nine.

Cheema then picked up the tempo on his back nine starting with an eagle on 10 followed by three more birdies.

Sri Lankans Mithun Perera, N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran along with Gaurav Pratap Singh, Om Prakash Chouhan, Aman Raj, Sagar Raghuvanshi, Mohd. Azhar, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Olympian Udayan Mane were tied for fifth on four-under 62.

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