Aman Raj shot a seven-under-65 to move into the lead on the opening day of the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship here. The Patna golfer scored eight birdies with a lone bogey at the Eagleton Golf Resort on Tuesday to finish two shots ahead of S. Chikkarangappa and Veer Ahlawat, who were in tied second.
Shubhankar Sharma made a quiet start with a one-over-73 to be placed tied 54th.
Aman, who was joint runner-up at last week’s PGTI event in Hyderabad, enjoyed a good day with the putter, sinking several birdies from a range of eight to 10 feet. "It was a good putting day for me and I feel I’m carrying forward the momentum from last week," the 24-year-old said later. "I had a good putting stretch on the 15th, 16th and 17th but was a little disappointed to miss a chance on the 18th."
While Chikkarangappa produced a flawless five-under-67, Ahlawat -- who returned an identical score -- shot an eagle, four birdies and a bogey in his round. There was then a logjam of eight golfers in fourth place, all tied on four-under-68. That bunch included Pune’s Udayan Mane, who won the last two PGTI events. Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi was a further stroke behind in tied 12th.
Top scores (round one): 65: Aman Raj; 67: Veer Ahlawat, S. Chikkarangappa; 68: Mari Muthu, Himmat Rai, Honey Baisoya, Udayan Mane, Jaiveer Atwal, Mohammad Sanju, Om Prakash Chouhan, Akshay Sharma.
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