By IANS,
Kolkata : Chandigarh golfer Harendra Gupta and Noida’s Sanjay Singh shared the lead after a truncated round one of the PGTI Players golf Championship here Wednesday.
Gupta and Singh shot scores of three under 33 to be placed at the top of the leaderboard after bad weather cut short the opening round to nine holes.
Rahil Gangjee, Ashok Kumar, Neil Mundra and Chiragh Kumar (all two under 34) are one stroke behind the joint leaders in tied third position. Reigning Indian Masters champion SSP Chowrasia and Mukesh Kumar carded one under 35 along with nine other golfers to be tied seventh.
Harendra Gupta, the winner of the preceding PGTI event in Chandigarh, sank birdies on the third, fourth, eighth and ninth holes and had only one blemish on his card, a bogey on the sixth at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.
Summing up his day, Gupta said: “I had a great round today even though I did not find it easy to assess the speed of the greens due to lack of practice on this course. My victory at Chandigarh gave me a lot of confidence heading into this tournament. I think that’s what made the difference today.”
Singh’s round was marked by birdies on the first and fifth, a bogey on the seventh and an eagle on the par five eighth.
“My hitting was not good today but I made some difficult putts. It was one of those days when I did not play all that well but ended up with a good score. The key in wet conditions is to hit the ball softly and that’s what I did,” said Sanjay.
Kolkata’s Rahil Gangjee got birdies on the first, fourth, eighth and a bogey on the sixth.
Chowrasia had a decent outing as he made birdies on the fourth and ninth and a bogey on the seventh carding 35.
“I was very satisfied with my round today even though I missed a few relatively simple birdie chances. I concentrated on hitting straight instead of hitting long in the prevailing conditions,” he said.