Players C’ship: Five golfers share lead in round one

Gurgaon: Bangalore golfer Abhishek Jha, Chandigarh’s Harmeet Kahlon, Rashid Khan of Delhi, Kolkata’s Divyanshu Bajaj and Australian Kunal Bhasin are the joint leaders after round one of the PGTI Players Championship at the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon. The five golfers fired identical scores of five-under-67 in the opening round on Tuesday.

Abhishek Jha had seven straight pars to begin with. He then started turning it on with birdies on the eighth and ninth. Jha landed it within two feet from 110 yards on the eighth. Abhishek’s birdies on the 12th and 14th took him to four-under for the day. His nine-iron approach shot ended up just two feet from the hole on the 12th. The six-foot-six-inch golfer’s only bogey of the day came on the 16th. Jha wrapped up the day with birdie-birdie on the 17th and 18th.

Abhishek said, “My hitting was brilliant today. I landed it within a couple of feet of the pin on two occasions. I also sank a 12-footer for birdie on the 17th. I made some good chip-putts today to pick up strokes on the ninth, 14th and 18th. It was not windy today and I made good use of the favourable conditions.”

Kunal Bhasin fired the only bogey-free round among the joint leaders. Bhasin was off to a splendid start on the 10th as he sank a 14-feet putt for his first birdie of the day. He followed that up with another birdie on the 11th where he landed it within eight feet and converted the putt. Bhasin capitalized on his good start by knocking down two 12-feet birdie putts on the 13th and first and making a chip-putt for birdie on the 18th.

The Mumbai-based Bhasin said, “I’ve been working on my chipping and putting recently and the results are showing. My ball-striking was also exceptional today. This is my best score on the PGTI this season. The opening round has provided me a perfect launch-pad for the rest of the week.”

Divyanshu Bajaj with eight birdies and three bogeys is also in the joint lead along with Harmeet Kahlon and Rashid Khan, both of whom made seven birdies against two bogeys.

Delhi’s Manav Jaini, Digvijay Singh of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon and Chandigarh golfer Ranjit Singh are in tied sixth at four-under-68.