By Rahul Banerji
Despite a first time feel of conditions, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Arjun Prasad shared the opening day lead in the second J&K Open in Jammu on Wednesday.
Playing together, Sandhu and Prasad returned three-under 69s at the event presented by J&K Tourism at the Jammu Tawi Golf Course.
On a day that saw just nine sub-par scores, Sandhu and Prasad led the 126-strong field by one shot.
Five players tied in third place at two-under 70 — Delhi’s Shamim Khan, Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta, Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi, Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar and Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain.
Indonesian Open runner-up Rashid Khan (72) was tied 10th, Udayan Mane (73) was T19, defending champion Honey Baisoya (74) was tied 26th and Manu Gandas (75) was tied 32nd.
Bhawani Singh Parmar (78) of Jammu was the best-placed among local professionals in T55.
Chandigarh’s Sandhu, second on the PGTI Order of Merit, began with a bogey.
Fighting back
He then fought back with five birdies including a chip-in, two good chip-putts and a 12-foot conversion. Yuvraj closed the round with a bogey.
Said Sandhu, “I missed a few fairways today but I managed myself well in those situations.
“It’s a tight course and the tee shots are demanding. There’s a premium on hitting the maximum number of fairways.”
Delhi golfer Prasad had a birdie and bogey each on the back-nine.
Arjun, who came up with some quality wedge shots through the day, closed the round with a flurry of birdies.
Prasad’s birdie on the last was a result of a fabulous second shot from 185 yards that landed within three feet of the pin.
Arjun said, “After assessing the conditions early on, I knew that an under-par score would be a really good start here. So I’m quite pleased with my effort in my first outing at the Jammu Tawi Golf Course.”
Also read: Professional golf to make its debut in Jammu with J&K Open
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