By IANS
Hanoi (Vietnam) : Three Indians figured in the top 10 at the end of the first round of the $500,000 Hana Bank Vietnam Masters at the Hanoi Phoenix Golf Resort Thursday.
Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, Rahil Gangjee and Gurbaaz Mann, all turned in cards of three-under 69 to lie three shots of the leader, Swiss Martin Rominger who shot a six-under 66.
It was a fairly satisfying day for Indians as Digvijay Singh (71) in 24th place, Gaganjeet Bhullar (72) in 31st place, and Arjun Singh (73) in tied 43rd place were in ideal position to make the halfway cut which comes at the end of the second round. Harmeet Kahlon was one over 73 but with three more holes to play, he was one of the nine players who will come back early in the morning to complete their first round.
The other Indians in the field were lying way back. Chiragh Kumar (74) was tied 66th, Firoz Ali (75) was 83rd, Vikrant Chopra (76) and Amandeep Johl (76) were tied 97th, Uttam Singh Mundy (77) was tied 109th and Naman Dawar (78) was languishing in the 118th place.
Chowrasia, starting on the tenth tee, was three-under with three bogeys at the turn and then shot a bogeyfree second nine with nine straight pars. “I wanted to make sure there were no mistakes. I wanted to stick to the fairway and get to the greens in regulation and I knew the birdies would follow. There were three in first nine holes, but then I missed a few on the second half,” said Chowrasia.
Gangjee opened with two birdies and then also an eagle two on the fifth. Overall he four birdies and an eagle, but he also dropped three bogeys.
Gurbaaz, who has often done well on the first couple of days and then faltered over the weekend, had just one bogey on the third hole, but then shot four birdies on eighth, ninth, 12th and 15th.
Leader Rominger had just one bogey on the 13th. He had a great streak between the eighth and 12th during which he had three birdies and an eagle on par-5 12th hole.
Taipei’s Lin Wen Hong had a five-under 67 for sole second, while Chapchai Nirat of Thailand, Malaysia’s Iain Steel Korea’s Mo Joong-kyung were among the seven players at four-under in tied third place after the first round.