Bangalore: Anura Rohana’s four under 68 placed Take Chennai in the lead on the opening day of the Louis Philippe Cup 2012, a Rs. 1.24 crore event being played at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course in Bangalore. SSP Chowrasia’s two under 70 accounted for Take Chennai’s second best score and took the team tally in round one to six under 138. Puravankara Bangalore, The 3C Delhi and Dev-Ellora Chandigarh are tied second with matching totals of five under 139.
The first two rounds will be played in the stroke-play format. The total of the two best professional scores (out of 3) for each team comprised the Team Score in round one. The same scoring format will be followed in round two. The total of the Team Scores from round one and round two will be taken into account to determine the top four teams at the end of round two. The top four teams will make it to the semi-final stage in round three while the teams placed fifth to 10th will play for the remaining places. Rounds three and four will be played in the match-play format.
Anura Rohana (68) and SSP Chowrasia (70) placed Take Chennai on top of the leaderboard in round one. Gaurav Ghei, the third member of the team, shot a three over 75.
Rohana had a slow start as he bogeyed the 11th and 13th. He managed to pull one back with a birdie on the 14th but a missed putt from three feet on the 16th resulted in another bogey. Anura was thus two over after eight holes. He then made a remarkable comeback with four straight birdies on the 18th, first, second and third.
The Sri Lankan chipped-in from the bunker on the 18th and landed his approach shot from 140 yards within three feet on the third. Rohana produced a magnificent tee shot on the eighth that stopped just five feet from the pin and led to another birdie. He finally closed the day at four under after making birdie on the ninth.
Rohana said, “My iron-play was fantastic. I landed it close to the flag on many occasions. There were three lip-outs on the first nine but I came back well with four consecutive birdies thereafter.
“I have some good memories of this venue since I won the last tournament I played here in September 2011. Therefore, I’m now playing with a lot of confidence at the KGA. I feel we need to total around 11 under for a top-4 position after round two.”
Anirban Lahiri fired a 69 while Manav Jaini posted 70 for Puravankara Bangalore. The home team was thus placed joint second at 139. The team’s third member Abhishek Jha carded a 77.
The 3C Delhi and Dev-Ellora Chandigarh joined Puravankara Bangalore in tied second position.
Shiv Kapur’s 68 included five birdies and a bogey and propelled The 3C Delhi into joint second. The other two members of the Delhi team, Rashid Khan and Om Prakash Chouhan, returned scores of 71 and 72 respectively.
Harendra Gupta was the star performer for Dev-Ellora Chandigarh. Gupta ended up with a 68 that featured six birdies and two bogeys. Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a 71 while Sujjan Singh fired a 72 for Chandigarh.
Ansal API Lucknow and Navratna Ahmedabad were in tied fifth at 140 while AVT Kolkata was a further stroke back in seventh place.
DLF Gurgaon (142), Oxford Group West (143) and Shubhkamana Noida (144) were placed eighth, ninth and 10threspectively.
In the Intercity Pro-Am competition, DLF Gurgaon leads with a score of 281. DLF Gurgaon comprises of professionals (with their respective scores in brackets) – Jyoti Randhawa (70), Himmat Singh Rai (72), Digvijay Singh (75) and amateurs – Mr. Gurmehar Singh Sethi (68), Mr. Kanwaljit Singh Cheema (71) and Mr. Manmohan Chopra (78). Shubhkamana Noida is placed second at 288.
