Day one Gurgaon Open leader Mani Ram of Karnal in action at the Classic GCC on Tuesday. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Karnal’s Mani Ram dominated with a 9 under par 63 to lead the Rs 1 crore Gurgaon Open by two shots at the Classic Golf & Country Club on Tuesday.
Bangalore-based C. Muniyappa fired a 7 under 65 to sit in second place on a windy opening day at the Nuh venue, the PGTI said.
Fellow Bangalore golfer M. Dharma and Chandigarh’s Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal shared third place a further shot back.
Mani Ram, 13th on the Tata Steel PGTI Ranking and with a runner-up finish to his credit this season, started his birdie run on the third hole.
The Karnal player followed that with a long conversion on the fourth hole and an accurate approach that led to a tap-in on the sixth.
Ram, 42 and a three-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, then made further gains with birdies on holes eight, nine and 10.
Lone blip
His lone blemish was on 11 but Ram came back well with a chip-in for birdie on 13, followed by an eagle on 14 and birdie on 15 where he left himself putts within five feet.
Mani Ram saved par on 16 with a 30-foot conversion. However, he missed out on a birdie from five feet on 18 that could have seen him equal the 2009 course record of 62 jointly held by Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat and Anirban Lahiri.
Mani Ram said, “I couldn’t have asked for a better opening round. It’s my career-best score. My confidence has been sky-high this season due to my good hitting form.
“The putting has been a bit up and down, but today even my putter was hot. It was after my third birdie of the day on the sixth that I felt I could go really low today. The rest of the day then went as per my plan and that helped me get to 63.
“I’ve been feeling good about my game this year and that is evident from my two top-10 finishes. The fact that I missed the cut in the last two events didn’t worry me too much because I knew my game had been trending well.”
Muniyappa’s 65 was error-free as he made five birdies on the back nine and followed up with two more on the front nine.
Jatiwal and Dharma had rounds of 66 which were also bogey-free efforts.
Round 1 leaders
63: Mani Ram
65: C. Muniyappa
66: Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal; M. Dharma
Also read: Ahlawat prevails in tight Delhi-NCR Open finish over Gandas
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