By Rahul Banerji
Tour rookie Vishav Pratap Singh Gill riding on the confidence of a third-place finish at the PGTI Q School, set the pace in round one of the Glade One Masters with a flawless 4-under 32.
Aditya Raj Kumar Chauhan of Delhi shot a bogey-free 33 to hold second place at Ahmedabad on Tuesday, the PGTI said.
The first two rounds of the event are being played over nine holes each with the cut after 18 holes.
The third and fourth rounds will then comprise 18 holes each, the event being played over 54 holes.
Par for the course in the first two rounds is 36.
Gill, 21, and playing only his second event as a professional, hit a purple patch from the fifth hole onwards after a quiet start.
The lanky Chandigarh golfer sank four consecutive birdies from the fifth through the eighth landing it within eight feet each time.
Vishav said, “I’ve drawn a lot of confidence from my good performance at the Qualifying School last month where I finished third.
Positive mindset
“I was feeling good about my game at the start of the day so I managed to make the most of that positive frame of mind. I missed the cut last week but didn’t let that affect my game too much.
“Playing just nine holes each on the first two days, one cannot afford to make too many mistakes as there is no time to recover.
“I landed it close on quite a few occasions today and reaped the rewards for it.”
Chauhan, another player fresh from a decent outing at last month’s Qualifying School event, was quick off the blocks with two birdies on the first three holes.
Aditya, who made greens in regulation on all nine holes, made his third 10-foot birdie conversion of the day on the eighth.
“The two birdies on the first three holes today set me up for the rest of the round.
“I hit my wedges really well. I got some good mental advice from my coach before the season began and that served me well today.
“There are very few scoring holes here so one needs to capitalize on the greens with good putting,” said Chauhan.
The six golfers sharing third place on 2-under 34 were Shabeg Singh Kooner, Shankar Das, Harsh Gangwar, Abhishek Kuharr, Vinay Kumar Yadav and Abhijit Singh Chadha.
Among the Gujarat-based golfers, Varun Parikh and Anshul Patel were the highest-placed at tied 31st with rounds of 37.
Also read: Edition 2 of Glade One Masters tees off from Tuesday in Ahmedabad
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