Delhi’s Rashid Khan dominated the opening day with a sensational nine-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead in the 17th TATA Open, the PGTI’s season finale here Thursday.
Rashid, who won the PGTI’s last event in Mumbai, carried forward his form into the year-ending Rs. 1 crore event with an outstanding run of 10 birdies that came at the expense of just one bogey at the par-71 Golmuri Golf Course.
Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, the 2014 champion, and Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar struck sizzling 63s to be tied second.
Delhi’s Tapy Ghai and Noida’s Amardip Malik produced scores of 64 to occupy tied fourth.
Rashid Khan, who ended his two-year title-drought last week, seemed to continue from where he had left in Mumbai as he drove his way to the top of the leaderboard.
The 27-year-old Khan made an impact early on in his round thanks to some excellent driving and tee shots that set up birdies for him on the second, third, fourth, sixth, eighth and 10th.
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Rashid, who had finished a close runner-up to Shubhankar Sharma at the 2016 edition, only had a blemish on the 11th where he found the trees and as a result dropped a shot.
On the back-nine, Khan’s accuracy with the 3-wood helped him collect four more birdies on the 12th, 15th, 16th and 18th.
Om Prakash and Sanjeev went error-free in their rounds of 63 as both left themselves a lot of short birdie putts. Sanjeev also had a chip-in birdie on the eighth.
Tapy Ghai was exceptional with the wedges making two chip-in birdies during his flawless 64. Amardip Malik, who too posted a 64, enjoyed a spectacular run of six consecutive birdies from the 15th to the second hole.
Among the prominent names, Bengaluru-based Chikkarangappa and defending champion Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka were both in tied ninth with scores of 66.
Also Read: Rashid Khan triumphs at PGTI CG Open
Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi, the 2018 PGTI Order of Merit champion, fired a 69 to be tied 38th.
Among the Jamshedpur-based players, amateur Navtez Singh was in tied 51st having carded a one-under-70, amateur Aditya Panchamiya was placed tied 87th after returning a two-over-73.
Karan Taunk and amateur Armaan Parikh were both in tied 114th with scores of five-over-76. Chhotu Singh, another local professional shot a six-over-77 to be tied 121st.
Out of the 126 players, three players could not complete their first round due to fading light.
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