Jamshedpur: Digvijay Singh of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, came up with his personal best single-round score of eight-under-63 at the Golmuri Golf Club on Thursday to emerge as the round one leader at the 12th TATA Open. Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar and Ranjit Singh of Chandigarh fired scores of six-under-65 at Golmuri to be placed joint second along with M Dharma of Bangalore who recorded a six-under-66 at Beldih Golf Club.
On Thursday one half of the field played its 18 holes at the par-72 Beldih Golf Club while the golfers in the other half completed their rounds at the par-71 Golmuri Golf Club. On Friday both halves of the field will switch venues (those who played at Beldih on day one, play eighteen holes at Golmuri on day two and vice-versa).
Digvijay Singh, a winner on the Asian Tour, wrecked havoc with an eagle and seven birdies on day one. He had a dream start to the week as he was two-on on the par-5 second green and then sank a four-footer for eagle. The 41-year-old went on to convert birdie putts from eight to 15 feet on the fifth, 10th and 11th to move to five-under for the day.
Digvijay finished the round in style with birdies on the last three holes. The Gurgaon-based golfer landed his third shot from 110 yards to within five feet for birdie on the 16th. His terrific tee shot on the par-3 17th left him a three-feet birdie putt.
“It’s a great start to the tournament for me. Shooting my personal best is a huge boost as I’ve not been in the best of form over the last few weeks. The 15-feet conversion on the 10th set the ball rolling for me. I didn’t expect that putt to go in, but once it did my round just took off from there. I missed a few short putts but made the best of the scoring opportunities available at this course,” said Digvijay, who fell one short of Sri Lankan Anura Rohana’s course record set at the 11th TATA Open last year.
M Dharma made seven birdies against a bogey to register the best score at Beldih in round one. Dharma had a power-packed front-nine which featured five birdies. He missed a hole-in-one by a foot on the opening hole. The Bangalorean also fired in shots from 110 yards to within six feet of the flag for birdies on two occasions. He had a relatively quieter back-nine as he made two birdies and a bogey.
Chiragh Kumar and Ranjit Singh’s scores of six-under-65 at Golmuri helped them occupy joint second place along with Dharma. While Ranjit made an eagle, five birdies and a bogey, Chiragh had seven birdies and a bogey to his credit.
Amardip Sinh Malik of Greater Noida, Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta and Delhi golfer Ashok Kumar produced scores of five-under-66 at Golmuri to be placed tied fifth.
Jamshedpur-based amateur Karan Taunk and Chandigarh’s K Raghav Bhandari, both of whom played at Golmuri, were a further shot behind in tied eighth place.
Defending champ Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka returned a one-over-73 at Beldih to be placed tied 51st.
The player who makes the first hole-in-one in the tournament will be rewarded with a TATA Nano.
Top scores after Round 1:
Eight-under-63: Digvijay Singh (Golmuri)
Six-under-65: Chiragh Kumar (Golmuri)
Six-under-65: Ranjit Singh (Golmuri)
Six-under-66: M Dharma (Beldih)
