By IANS
New Delhi : Rahul Bakshi with the help of a brilliant front nine carded a superb three-under 69 to take the first day’s honours in the Sunfeast All India Junior Golf Championship Tuesday.
In-form Rashid Khan, winner of the Faldo Series final in China, fired seven birdies but yet returned a card of two-under 70. He is lying in the second position, while Chikkarangappa and Kanishk Madan were jointly at the third spot at level par 72.
Tarundeep Singh Chaudhary and Ankur Chadha, both playing in the Category B, were tied in the fifth place with a card of three-over 75.
Rahul began his birdie spree from the par-4 second and added one more the next hole with a 30-feet effort. A hat-trick of birdies followed from the fifth as the Chandigarh lad was five-under after seven holes. However Rahul’s tee shot on the par-3 ninth after landing just near the pin rolled away to about 20 feet from where he made three putts for a bogey.
Rahul, who was second behind Rashid Khan in Nick Faldo series in China, began his back nine with a bogey for which he made up with a birdie on the 12th. Another three-putt effort on the par-3 13th saw the Chandigarh lad fell back by a stroke.
“I could have avoided those two bogeys where I three putted,”” said Rahul after the round. “My hitting was good as I missed only four greens. I think the greens are a bit slow but the course is in excellent condition despite the cold weather.”
Rashid Khan, after an early bogey on the second where he had to take a penalty drop after a wayward tee shot, seemed to make amends on the third and fourth going under par.
However three bogeys in a row beginning from the fifth laid him low. With a birdie on the par-3 ninth, the 16-year-old was getting into the groove when he hit another bogey on the 11th. But he quickly recouped with a birdie on the very next hole and followed up with a brace on the 14th and 15th.
On the finishing hole, Rashid hit his tee shot way on the left and was unsure of whether the ball had crossed the ‘Out of bounds’ line. He hit a provisional, but then found his original and hit it to two feet from the pin to sign off with another birdie.
Results (after 18 holes):
Category (A & B): Rahul Bakshi (69); Rashid Khan (70); Kanishk Madan, Chikkarangappa ((72); Tarundeep Singh Chaudhary, Ankur Chadha (75), Abhijit Chadha (76); Anish Gupta, Rommel Majumdar, Amanjyot Singh, Aman Guron (77)
Category B: Chikkarangappa (72); Tarundeep Singh Chaudhary, Ankur Chadha (75); Syed Saquib Ahmed (78); Ashbeer Singh Saini (79); Ainesh Ahluwalia, Raju
Saxena (80)
Category C: Harman Virk (79); Viraat Bhadwar, Akshath Vidyanath (82); Roshan
Raj (83); Varun Verma (84); Rashid Khan (70); Kanishk Madan.