Siddikur shows the way on low-scoring day at DGC Open

By Rahul Banerji

A past Indian Open winner at the Delhi Golf Club, Siddikur Rahman fired a blemish-free seven-under 65 on the opening day of the $750,000 DGC Open presented by Mastercard on Thursday.

Bangladesh golfer Rahman, who has one of the finest records at this venue continued his love affair with the iconic course to equal last year’s winning total on the first day itself.

Two shots behind were two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan, defending champion Nitithorn Thippong of Thailand and Filipino Justin Quiban on five-under 67s.

Like Siddikur, Rashid’s effort was also bogey-free.

Familiarity with the DGC was the common thread for the top four, with three of them having won their maiden Asian Tour titles at this venue.

Siddikur won the Hero Indian Open at the DGC in 2013, while Rashid took the SAIL-SBI Open title where incidentally Siddikur was the runner-up.

Though Siddikur and Rashid won on the old layout, both showed they were quite at home with the redesign of the Lodhi Course by Gary Player.

Nitithorn won last year with a seven-under 281 in a playoff and Quiban logged a fifth place, one of his two Top-10s on the Asian Tour.

Favoured track

Siddikur was thrilled to be back at his favourite course after a long gap. The last time he played an event here was in 2018, when he was second at the Panasonic Open India.

Overall, Siddikur has 13 top 10 finishes in 16 starts at the DGC. Besides one win, he has four runner-up finishes at the DGC.

On a low-scoring day, six players were tied for the fifth place with 68 each.

The group included Chikkarangappa S., who was tied sixth last week in Thailand. The group also included the US-born Varun Chopra, who now plays on the Indian Tour.

Siddikur had two birdies on his first nine and then exploded on his way home with five birdies in the last seven holes.

“I love the Delhi Golf Club course and I have always enjoyed playing here with some good results including a win,” he said later.

“It was a wonderful day. I’m hitting really well and at the same time I am putting well too.

“I have been working on my technique, my fitness, my mental training. At the new course, the layout is the same but the all greens are a little different. But I think I like these greens more than before.”

Tentative start

Rashid who started on the tenth tee and had nine pars to begin with, said, “It wasn’t great, the way I started the round. I have been working on some things.”

He went on, “I had a back injury around November and after that I lost my touch so I was really scared to hit shots because of my back.

“I had to change my swing a little and it was all handy. Right now also it’s there but I’m working on something which I really wanted and Ashok Kumar (another Indian pro) showed me the path.”

On his way back to the clubhouse, Rashid hit five birdies. Talking about his tentativeness over last few months, he added, “I was in that situation in the first nine holes, but I managed it very well.

“On the back nine, I had a good birdie on the first and then finishing with the last three birdies was great. You know that gives you confidence and that’s what I needed.”

Nitithorn, looking to retain the Lal Bangla Trophy, said, “I struggled a bit on my approach shots midway through the round, but I managed.”

Taking it easy

“I’m looking for my title defence but just don’t want to push myself so much. Like last year, I just want to play 66 every day. That’s my strategy.  The conditions are very nice out there.”

Chopra, who had a bogey start finally finished four-under with a strong first nine.

He said, “I got off to a bogey on the first hole at the 10. And honestly, I rebounded really well on that nine with six birdies in the next eight holes, so that was awesome.”

Four players including Indian amateur Yuvraj Singh were tied for 11th at three under.

Overall, 40 players shot under par scores and another 16 players, including SSP Chawrasia, who has won three Asian Tour titles at the DGC, shot even par 72 each to be tied 41st.

Also read: DGC Open draws big Indian entry list, Chikka is man in form