By Rahul Banerji
Shiv Kapur and Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia were two shots off the lead in shared second place after day one of the inaugural International Series England on Thursday.
Fifteen of 17 Indians entered for the Asian Tour’s first foray into England teed off at the Slaley Hall course near Newcastle and it was left to the two seniors in the group to show the way.
Viraj Madappa was tied for eighth place a further shot behind as Chinese-Taipei’s Chang Wei Lun emerged the surprise leader with a 6-under par 65.
Alongside Kapur and two-time Indian Open winner Chawrasia were Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, Tanapat Pichaikool, Kasidit Lepkurte, and Korean Joohyung Kim.
Kim is a familiar face for the Indian golf fraternity after his 2019 Panasonic Open India win before the pandemic shut the Asian Tour down for two years.
Clean sheet
Kapur had a bogey-free round, with one birdie on his outward nine and a further three in four holes on the way back, while SSP mixed six birdies with two dropped shots.
Rahil Gangjee was the other Indian in red figures with a 70 in tied 20th alongside Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Sihwan Kim and 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland.
Early on, Thai teenaged amateur Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwat made a searing start with two birdies and an eagle in his opening three holes before flattening out to end with a level par 71.
Madappa challenged for honours in the GS Caltex Maekyunng Open in Korea last month and remains in good form, asiantour.com said.
“I have been playing well; the last event in Korea I was in contention until the last few holes on Sunday,” said Madappa, who made four birdies in a row to open his back nine.
“My game is coming around. I went to see my coach, Laurence Brotheridge, who I had not seen for a year because of the pandemic and is based in Leeds.
“He was able to come down yesterday as well. We have mainly been working on setup. I feel if you get that up right there is nothing much more you need.”
Udayan Mane and Honey Baisoya were the two Indians to miss out despite confirmed entries because of visa issues.
The picture was changing quite rapidly in round two on Friday but more of that later.
Indians in round 1 (par 71)
67 Shiv Kapur, SSP
68 Viraj Madappa
70 Rahil Gangjee
72 Gaganjeet Bhullar, Chikkarangappa S.
73 Ajeetesh Sandhu, Rashid Khan
74 Jyoti Randhawa, Karandeep Kochhar
75 Aman Raj
76 Aadil Bedi, Jeev Milkha Singh
77 Khalin Joshi
78 Veer Ahlawat
Also read: Asian Tour on the move, in England for International Series opener
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