By Rahul Banerji
Shubhankar Sharma and Shiv Kapur were tied for ninth place on the opening day of the $5 million PIF Saudi International on three under par 67s at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club near Jeddah on Thursday.
The event, powered by Softbank Investment Advisers, is the opening tournament of the Asian Tour’s 2023 schedule and has attracted a star-studded field that includes 12 major winners and is liberally dotted with names from the LIV Golf stable.
Hero Dubai Desert Classic runner-up Patrick Reed was in the group of nine sharing ninth place along with Sharma and Kapur that also included Thai amateur star Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantanuwat.
Mexico’s Abraham Ancer held the clubhouse lead on seven-under 63, one up on Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz.
Spain’s Ryder Cup star Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Cameron Young of the US shared third place on five under 65s in a field that includes eight from the current top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Bad back
Past winner Dustin Johnson was one of the few draws from LIV Golf missing as he withdrew with a tweaked back before the field teed off on Thursday.
Defending champion Harold Varner III was tied for 30th alongside Brooks Koepka and six others while Rashid Khan was the next best placed Indian behind Sharma and Kapur on level par after 17 holes.
Ajeetesh Sandhu (T60) was one over after 15 holes, Anirban Lahiri (T73) was two over after 17, Gaganjeet Bhullar (T88) was three over having finished his round while Veer Ahlawat was alongside Bubba Watson on six over par after 17 holes.
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, last year’s International Series Order of Merit winner, and another Asian Tour regular Ian Snyman from South Africa came in with 66s, the Asian Tour website added.
Ancer was in imperious form making four birdies on the back nine after starting from the 10th tee and then added three more on the front side.
Said Ancer: “Obviously very happy. I felt like I was in control for the most part of the golf ball. Took advantage at the beginning where there was very little wind.
“And on the turn the wind started pumping pretty good. Once it starts getting that way, you try to hold on, and being able to make a couple of birdies coming in was definitely nice.”
Garcia, the winner of 36 titles globally, also enjoyed the slightly easier conditions at the start.
Solid display
“It was actually calmer than I thought at the beginning,” said the 2017 Masters champion.
“I don’t know, I feel like I played well, gave myself a lot of good chances, a lot of good patience because on the front nine, which was 10 to 18 for me, I had some good opportunities that didn’t go in, good putts that didn’t go in.
“But I kept my patience, and then on the back nine I was able to make a couple of nice putts for birdie and a couple of decent saves. Very happy with the round.”
Vincent was delighted with his start considering it has been two months since his last tournament.
He said: “It’s a fantastic start to the year. We’ve had, what, almost two months off, so to come back and try to get back into the routines and get some good practice in, you never quite know where the game’s going to be.”
Also read: Sharma looks for strong start at Hero Dubai Desert Classic
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