By Rahul Banerji
With no great recent form, local boy Dhruv Sheoran emerged as the surprise clubhouse leader on day one of the Kapil Dev-Grant Thornton Invitational at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Tuesday.
Sheoran, who finished 18th at the recent Rajasthan Open in Jaipur brought in a four-under-par 68 with 19 golfers out of a total of 124 yet to finish their round thanks to fading light.
Play will resume at 7 am on Wednesday with the recommencement of round one. Round two will get underway subsequent to that.
Five golfers shared second place – Deepinder Singh Kullar and Sunhit Bishnoi, also from DLF, besides Trishul Chinnappa of Bangalore and the Mhow-based duo of Om Prakash Chouhan and Mukesh Kumar.
The Gurgaon-based Sheoran, who has had an ordinary season so far with just the Jaipur result to show for and six missed cuts, capitalised on his short game even as he struggled with the driver.
Strong rally
Sheoran, 27 and a two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, was one-over through his first six holes but then rallied with birdies on the 17, 18 and the first with some short putts.
He then added four birdies and two bogeys to his card including a 25-foot conversion on the third hole and a chip that hit the flag on the fourth.
“I stuck to my game plan. Since this is my home course, I knew all the bailout areas which always helps at this course,” Sheoran said later.
“I chipped and putted really well even though my long game which is usually my strength, wasn’t up to the mark today.
“I enjoyed a good stretch on 17, 18 and one where I set up short birdie putts that gave me a lot of confidence.
“Those three birdies also gave me a cushion on the front nine as I knew how this course can be hard on you. My game was more free-flowing after those three straight birdies.”
Second on the Order of Merit, Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu was tied 11th on level par 72, Pre-event favourite Gaganjeet Bhullar was tied 44th on 75 and Jyoti Randhawa was tied 71st on 77.
In the morning, a formal tee-off by former India cricket captain and tournament host Kapil Dev marked the inauguration of the event.
Vishesh C. Chandiok, chief executive of Grant Thornton Bharat and Aakash Ohri of DLF Home Developers also participated in the ceremonial hit-off.
Also read: Inaugural Kapil Dev-Grant Thornton Invitational draws quality field
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