Sachin Baisoya sets pace with five-under-67 on day one of Kensville Open

By Rahul Banerji

Sachin Baisoya of Delhi set the bar in round one of the Kensville Open with an error-free five-under-67 to take a one-shot lead at the Kensville Golf & Country Club on Tueasday.

Delhi teenager Arjun Prasad was second with a four-under-68 at the Rs. 40 lakh event.

The 22-year-old Baisoya regularly found fairways to set up a number of birdie opportunities.

He made three 10-feet conversions and salvaged birdies from the edge of the green on two occasions.

Sachin said, “I felt the rhythm was good coming into this event as I had posted my first top-10 of the year at Noida last month.

“I’ve been driving and hitting better since that event.

“Today I struck it really well and found the centre of the fairway on many occasions. That helped me set up most of my birdies.

“I made all fairways except for one. I also made some long two-putts. However, it was really disappointing to miss a two-foot birdie putt on the eighth.”

Nineteen-year-old Prasad, who has been second and third this current season, also came up with a bogey-free effort on Tuesday.

Late surge

Prasad sank his first birdie on the fourth hole before coming up with a late surge of birdies on the 14^th, 16^th and 17^th holes. Ge said later, “I’ve been playing well since Noida. The third place there was a morale-booster.

“One has to hit most fairways here and place it well off the tee. The wind picks up in the second half here so one has to watch out for that too.”

Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha and Gurgaon-based Tapy Ghai were on three-under-69s to be tied third.

Vani in the vanguard

In Gurgaon, Vani Kapoor leads a strong field for the 15th leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the DLF Golf and Country Club that tees off on Wednesday.

Though there are three more events on the WGAI Tour, the 15th leg is the last outing before the Hero Women’s Indian Open, also at the same venue.

The WGAI scheduled the 14th and 15th legs of the Tour to ensure that Indian players get a feel of the Gary Player course before the $500,000 Hero Indian Open.

Vani, who finished tied sixth at the HWIO in 2017, also won the opening domestic leg and was runner-up in the eighth leg.

Good form

Another player to look out for is Gaurika Bishnoi, who returned to form with a fine win in the 14th leg late last month.

In seven starts this season Gaurika has won once, finished second three times and been third and fourth once each.

Last year at the HWIO she was T10 after the first round and T26 after the second before slipping to T-44th in the final round.

Neha Tripathi, who has won once this season and finished second twice, has often not been able to convert her leads into wins. She will be hoping for a better week.

Ridhima Dilawari, who represented India at the Asian Games in Jakarta, turned professional on the eve of this tournament as she hopes to play at the Indian Open next month.

Ridhima is in line for a feat no other player has achieved on the women’s domestic tour — win an event both as an amateur as well as a pro.

Ridhima topped the seventh leg at Prestige Golfshire as an amateur and is now looking for her maiden title as a professional.

Also read: Half-million-dollar boost for Hero Women’s Indian Open