Sandhu continues hot streak in opening round at Clover Greens

Already a three-time winner this season including at Mysore last week, Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu is setting the early pace in the Players Championship at Hosur. Image courtesy PGTI.

By Rahul Banerji

PGTI Order of Merit leader and winner at Mysore last week Yuvraj Sandhu extended his run of form on day one of the  Players Championship at the Clover Greens course in Hosur on Tuesday.

The Chandigarh golfer fired an 8 under par 63 at the Rs 1 crore event ahead of a three-way tie for second place, the PGTI said.

One stroke behind the leader were Nepal’s Subash Tamang, Delhi’s Shaurya Bhattacharya and Milind Soni of Hyderabad on 7 under 64 at the Par-71 course.

Mohd Azhar of Hyderabad was fifth with a 65 while Bangalore-based teenaged amateur Veer Ganapathy was tied for sixth on 66.

With the PGTI making its maiden visit to Clover Greens, many in the field got their first ever competitive feel of the picturesque venue. 

Sandhu, also on his first visit to Clover Greens, outperformed the rest in overcast, cool and extremely windy conditions with the temperature hovering between 20 and 24 degrees celsius.

A three-time winner this season, Sandhu managed the tree-lined fairways and the wind with three birdies on the back nine before adding an eagle and four birdies against a lone bogey on the front nine.

The 28-year-old’s round was highlighted by the 20-foot eagle conversion on the second, a drive that found the Par-4 13^th green and two terrific up and downs for birdies.

At home

“I’ve started really enjoying playing in such gusty conditions, I feel I thrive in these situations,” Sandhu said. 

“Like I said last week, I’ve developed my skills of playing in these conditions with the experience of playing in Asia.

“It’s also great to lead in my very first round at a venue, just like last week in Mysuru. Clover Greens is a short track but it has a lot of challenges to offer courtesy its narrow, tree-lined fairways and the pot bunkers. 

“Fortunately, I played the Pro-Am couple of days back with the owner of the course Austin Roach who gave me a good insight into the challenges posed by this course. That was very helpful.”

Tamang, the 2023 All India Amateur champion, mixed eight birdies with a bogey on the day. His accurate approach shots left him with six birdie putts from within four feet.

Bhattacharya and Soniproduced two eagles each during their rounds of 64.

The former, a winner this year, chipped-in for eagle on the 12^th and came up with a fabulous second shot from 190 yards for a tap-in for eagle on the second hole.

Also read: Yuvraj Sandhu carves out an authoritative win at Mysuru Open