Rashid Khan dominates round one of Tata Open

By Rahul Banerji

Rashid Khan dominated round one of the season-ending Rs 1 crore 17^th Tata Open with a blistering nine-under-62 at the par-71 Golmuri Golf Course in Jamshedpur on Thursday for a one-shot lead.

Rashid, who won the PGTI event in Mumbai last week, carried forward his form with a run of 10 birdies that came against one bogey.

Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, the 2014 champion, and Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar struck 63s to share second place.

Delhi’s Tapy Ghai and Noida’s Amardip Malik produced scores of 64 to occupy tied fourth.

Rashid, who ended a two-year title-drought last week, continued from where he had left off in Mumbai. The 27-year-old made an early impact with with his driving and tee shots that set up birdies for him on the second, third, fourth, sixth, eighth and 10^th holes.

Sole blemish

Rashid, who finished a close runner-up to Shubhankar Sharma in the 2016 edition, found the trees on the 11^th for his only dropped shot. On the back nine, the Delhi golfer’s accuracy with the 3-wood helped him collect four more birdies.

Said the confident Rashid, “I’ve been feeling some form since the Bangalore event. I started off with some good scores there before winning in Mumbai. I’ve been executing my shots to perfection, just the way I visualise them.

“The course is in excellent condition and the rain at the start of the week has made sure that the ball is holding on the green after landing. That has resulted in a lot of low scores.

“I hit my driver and 3-wood really well and thus got into good positions to attack the flag,” added Khan, who began his purple patch with an eight-under-62 in round two of the Mumbai event last week.

Bogey-free

Chouhan and Kumar went error-free in their rounds of 63 as both left themselves a lot of short birdie putts. Sanjeev also had a chip-in birdie on the eighth.

Ghai was exceptional with the wedges making two chip-in birdies during his flawless 64. Amardip Malik, who too posted a 64, enjoyed a spectacular run of six consecutive birdies.

Bangalore-based Chikkarangappa and defending champion Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka were tied ninth with scores of 66.

Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi, the 2018 PGTI Order of Merit champion, fired a 69 to be tied 38^th.

Among the Jamshedpur-based players, amateur Navtez Singh was in tied 51^st with a one-under-70, amateur Aditya Panchamiya was tied 87^th after returning a two-over-73 while professional Karan Taunk and amateur Armaan Parikh were both tied 114^th with scores of five-over-76.

Chhotu Singh, another local professional shot a six-over-77 to be tied 121^st.

Out of the 126 players, three could not complete their first round due to fading light.

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