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Local favourite Chikka leads pack of five on opening day

The inaugural edition of the Bengaluru Open Golf Championship which kicked off on Wednesday, saw a pack of five golfers on top of the leaderboard in the opening round at the KGA.

By Chitrangada
Order of Merit leader Shamim Khan plays a shot at the Karnataka Golf Association on Wednesday.

Bengaluru, November 15: The inaugural edition of the Bengaluru Open Golf Championship which kicked off on Wednesday (November 15), saw a pack of five golfers on top of the leaderboard in the opening round at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA).

Local favourite S Chikkarangappa, who has been out of sorts for over an year now, kicked off the Rs. 1 crore tournament with a dominant show, as he ended the opening day on top of the leaderboard, along with four other golfers, including, Shamim Khan, Himmat Singh Rai, Anura Rohana and Sujjan Singh.

Just a shot behind the leaders is a cluster of three golfers, including Veer Ahlawat, Honey Baisoya and M Dharma.

As predicted the leaderboard did spring up quite a few surprises on the opening day. It was a low scoring day as the five leaders, led by Chikka, turned in a card of six-under-66 to grab the top spot. The projected cut is expected to fall at an even-par score at 144 on Thursday.

Chikka, who has not been playing his best golf, did not let his faithful fans down, as he bounced back from a miserable week with a solid round here on Wednesday. The Karnataka golfer, who had missed the cut in Manila last week, turned his game around a 360 degrees to stamp his authority on his home course, rather his second home course. The 24-year-old’s home course is the Eagleton course.

Starting off the day, Chikka looked like he would have another dismal round as he missed a shot on the second hole itself. But that was the only blemish on his card, as he turned in a card studded with seven birdies.

Though missing a shot on the second, the Bengaluru pro had a quiet front nine, with two saved shots on the fifth and eight hole. Taking the turn, the golfer speeded things up as he showed his mastery of the course, saving as many as five shots. The 24-year-old started off with a birdie on the tenth, followed by three back-to-back saved shots on the 12th, 13th, and 14th, followed by another on the 16th. On the 16th, though, the golfer looked in danger of dropping a shot as he found the trees, but having played on this course since the beginning of his golfing journey, the pro got out of the thicket to go on and save a shot instead.

Content and relieved with his opening round Chikka said, “There were times I hit the ball around, and my driving has not been good. But I am not worried about that at all as I finally have my putting is place and I know I can play well and get my act together.”

Meanwhile, current Order of Merit leader Shamim Khan, continued his impressive form, grabbing a share of the lead, with a similar score of six-under. With two wins and seven top ten finishes this season, Shamim is eyeing to pick up his third win and solidify his place on top of the Order of Merit. While his front nine had only one birdie, his back nine was studded with six birdies and just one dropped shot.

“I’ve never played so well here at KGA. Good tee shots help set up a lot of birdies for me. It’s an important tournament for me as if I win here I can my build on my lead on the money list,” said Shamim.

Himmat Singh Rai, who has had only one top ten finish this year, also played a promising round, turning in a card studded with nine birdies and two bogeys. Having grabbed a share of the lead, a content Rai said, “I kept the ball in play and gave myself opportunities in the greens. Also my putting was good today and along with that it was mostly error-free today.”

Meanwhile, Sujjan Singh turned in a blemish free card on the day, to grab a share of the lead, while Sri Lanka’s Anura Rohan also carded a similar score to join the leaders.

Localite Udayan Mane did not get off to the desired start as the Bengaluru golfer along with another localite Khalin Joshi, was tied 14th along with four more, including Pawan Kumar, Divyanshu Bajaj, Gaurav Pratap Singh and Vikrant Chopra.

Another tournament favourite, Jyoti Randhawa had a disappointing outing on the opening day. After a good week in Manila, where the seasoned pro had finished tied 5th, Randhawa turned in an even-par card of 72 to end the day at tied 42nd along with a group of seven other golfers.

Scores: Day 1:

66: tied 1st : Anura Rohana, Sujjan Singh, Himmat Singh Rai, S Chikkarangappa, Shamim Khan

67: tied 6th: M Dharma, Veer Ahlawat, Honey Baisoya

68: tied 9th: Harendra Gupta, Abhijit Singh Chadha, Mukesh Kumar, N Thangaraja, Chiragh Kumar

69: tied 14th: Khalin Joshi, Pawan Kumar, Gaurav Pratap Singh. Divyanshu Bajaj, Vikrant Chopra, Udayan Mane

Story first published: Wednesday, November 15, 2017, 21:12 [IST]
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