The tournament was inaugurated on Wednesday morning by Mr. B
K Ravi, Adviser (Security), IOCL and Mr. Amitava Misra, GM (IC), IOCL (AOD).
Mr. Ravi and Mr. Misra’s ceremonial tee-off was followed by the release of
balloons. Mr. Ravi and Mr. Misra also planted trees on the course to mark the
inauguration of the event.
Gaurav Pratap’s 65 happened to be one of his best rounds in
the last two years. He had a dreadful bogey-bogey start after a couple of
errant tee shots on the first two holes. The 31-year-old Singh, a former winner
on the PGTI, then made a gallant comeback with nine birdies thereafter.
Gaurav first recovered a shot after driving the green on the
third and followed that up with three consecutive birdies on seven, eight,
nine, thanks to a 20-feet conversion and two outstanding chips. Singh made
further inroads on the back-nine as a result of three more birdie conversions
from a range of seven to 15 feet and a superb bunker shot on the 14ththat led
to a tap-in birdie.
Gaurav said, “It’s probably the best round I’ve shot in two
years. I made all the par-5s count today scoring birdies on each one. My wedge
shots were also pretty good. I feel I played really well to not only recover
but also put up a low number after that terrible start.
“I’ve suffered a spate of injuries over the last two years
that has hampered my game. So it’s great to finally see a 65 against my name.
Hopefully, I can capitalize on this solid start.
“I’ve worked a lot on my game over the past few months and
I’m now looking to get my game back on track. I’ve gone through a rough patch
in my career but I’ve treated it like a learning curve and not lost focus,”
added Singh.
Mukesh Kumar and Shankar Das, two of the pre-tournament
favourites, lived up to their reputations with scores of 66 to occupy joint
second place.
Mukesh, a six-time winner in Digboi, missed a three-footer
on the opening 10th hole to begin the tournament with a bogey. Kumar then
rallied with three birdies and an eagle over the next four holes. He drove the
green and then converted a 20-footer for eagle on the 14thafter setting up
tap-ins on the 12th and 13th.
Mukesh missed his second three-footer of the day to bogey
the 15th but more than made up for the error with three more birdies
thereafter. He found water on the closing ninth, however, salvaged a par on
that hole, courtesy some top-class iron-play.
“I chipped it really well and landed it given on quite a few
occasions. The recovery from the water on the ninth was special. I also missed
a second eagle on the third where my chip lipped out,” said Mukesh.
He added, “This sets me up for the week. I’m charged up
about winning here for a record seventh time. I’ll give it my all this week.”
Shankar Das, a double-winner at Digboi, was off to a
brilliant start with five birdies on the first-nine where he landed it within
four feet on a few occasions and also drove the green on the third.
Das hit a bad drive on the 11th to drop his only shot of
the day. But two good chip-putts from there on gave him two more birdies.
“I had a terrific front-nine today and looked set for a good
score but the 11th broke my momentum. I also didn’t make too many putts on
the back-nine,” Shankar said.
Kolkata’s Nur Hossain Sardar carded a bogey-free 67 to share
the fourth spot with Noida’s Vikrant Chopra and M Dharma of Bengaluru.
Defending champion Shamim Khan of Delhi fired a one-under-71 to be tied 24th.
Deven Bhumij of Digboi was the best-placed local
professional in tied 45th after he brought in a card of one-over-73.
Among the other local golfers, professional Biren Karmakar
was in tied 78th at seven-over-79 along with amateurs Zakir Hussain and
Deep Raj Chetia. Professionals Rashidul Ahmed (nine-over-81) and Binode Gogoi
(11-over-83) were placed tied 84th and 89th respectively.
PGTI Press release
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