Mohammad Sanju holds clubhouse lead at rain-hit Vizag Open

By Rahul Banerji

Overnight rain truncated the opening round of the Vizag Open 2023 as PGTI’s first event at the scenic East Point Golf Club but the exciting golf on display set the tone for the rest of the week.

Kolkata’s Mohammad Sanju set the early pace on Wednesday with a 6-under 66 at the Rs. 1 crore event, holding the clubhouse lead as the first round could not be completed after a late start.

Six players out of a total of 126 were yet to finish round one and will resume play at 6:45 am on Thursday.

Four players shared second place on 5 under 67 including Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta, Akshay Sharma and Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal, and Ahmedabad’s Anshul Patel.

The heavy overnight rain delayed the start by 45 minutes on Wednesday. Conditions continued to be overcast and there was a light drizzle throughout the day.

Field day

Sanju, who has been not having the best of seasons with just one top-10 in the year, had a field day making four birdies and an eagle to take the early advantage.

The Kolkata golfer made a 16-foot eagle conversion on hole 12 and also sank a 20-footer and a 12-footer for birdies on 10 and 17 respectively.

Sanju said, “It was a pleasure playing at EPGC for the first time. This course has a fantastic layout and is quite challenging with the narrow fairways and the thick rough on both sides. This track rewards accuracy off the tees.

“I could score low because I struck it well with my driver and irons today. I missed just four greens. The drizzle through the day meant one had to adapt accordingly as the course was playing one club longer.

“This start does my confidence a lot of good as I played well in tough conditions at a new course.”

Among the six players yet to complete round one, Delhi’s Saarthak Chhibber was well-placed as he had a score of four-under through 15 holes.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Om Prakash Chouhan returned a 69. Sunhit Bishnoi also fired a 69 on day one while Harshjeet Singh Sethie shot a 73.

Among the Visakhapatnam-based players, Rahman Mehboob Shorif was the best-placed with a 76.

Also read: Sethie drives his way to maiden title, pips Chouhan in playoff