Digvijay leads with a 66
on low scoring day
In an enthralling start to the new season of the Hero
Honda Indian Golf Tour, Digvijay Singh shot a course record equalling
six-under 66 and took sole possession of the lead after the opening round of
the Rs 1.5 million Royal Springs Open, at the par-72, Royal Springs
Golf Course, in Srinagar, on Thursday.
On a bright sunny day, the Indian professionals welcomed the 2002-03 season
by recording as many as 16 sub-par scores. The icing on the cake were two
hole-in-ones scored by Gaurav Diwan on the second hole, with a nine-iron tee
shot, and Shamim Khan, with a six-iron on the outstanding fifth hole.
Gaurav will receive a Hero Honda Splendour motorcycle from the Tour sponsors for scoring the first ace of the tournament.
Veteran Ali Sher and youngster Shamim Khan were tied for the second place at
five-under 67 while a bunch of players were in tied fourth place at
four-under 68, including reigning Hero Honda Masters champion Harmeet Kahlon
and Indian Open winner Vijay Kumar.
Jyoti Randhawa, making a comeback to professional golf after a five-month
injury lay-off was going great guns before making an unfortunate triple
bogey on the 15th hole (the 6th of the course after starting from the 10th
tee).
Randhawa finished the day at three-under 69. Mukesh Kumar, India's
number one player and the winner last year, had a nightmarish start
with a five-over 77 while Sher-e-Kashmir Open runner-up Gaurav Ghei shot a
forgettable three-over 75.
Digvijay matched the course record effort of Vijay Kumar in the final round
of the Sher-e-Kashmir Open in October last year. But what pleased him more
was the fact that there were no bogeys in the round.
"I played extremely solid and if I could have putted a bit better, I would have made at least
three-four birdies more. But what really pleased me about the round was the
fact that I did not make any mistake," said the 29-year old from Meerut who
is looking for his second title on the Hero Honda Golf Tour after winning
the 2000 BPGC Open in his Rookie Year.
Digvijay missed birdie putts from 10-feet on his first two holes before
draining a six-footer on the third. His other birdies came on the sixth,
seventh, ninth, 10th and 15th holes.
"The key of this course is not to miss the green on the wrong side. You can give yourself several birdie
opportunities but you need to read the greens well," said Digvijay who
finished third in the Indian Open earlier this year.
Ali Sher started with birdies on his first three holes and was six-under
after ten holes with an eagle on the seventh and another birdie on the
tenth. However, the twice Indian Open champion missed two birdie putts from
less than four feet after that and three-putted the 11th for his only bogey.
Shamim Khan had two bogeys, five birdies and an ace in his 67.
SCORES (after 18 holes): 66_Digvijay Singh; 67_Ali Sher, Shamim Khan;
68_Vijay Kumar, Rahil Gangjee, Pappan, Feroz Ali, Harmeet Kahlon; 69_Jyoti
Randhawa, Minky Barbora, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia; 70_Ashok Kumar,
Binod Pandey, Ranjit Singh; 71_Vivek Bhandari, Dyal Singh.
AMATEURS: 73_Harinder Gupta, Vikrant Chopra; 77_Arjun Singh