Sudhir Sharma
Pune, April 20, 2017: The
opening round of the Pune Open 2017 was characterized by windy conditions and
the resultant high scores. While Sudhir Sharma of Greater Noida took pole
position courtesy a resolute four-under-67, the trio consisting of defending
champion Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh, Bengalurean Khalin Joshi and KPS Sekhon,
another Chandigarh golfer, were in tied second at three-under-68.
Sudhir Sharma, who was also the joint first round leader at
last week’s PGTI event in Kochi, put in a great effort to negotiate the tough
conditions at the Poona Club Golf Course on Thursday. Sudhir, a
two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, began the week with a splendid up and
down for a par-save on the first.
The 29-year-old, working on returning to his old swing after
a year’s gap, struck it well on the front-nine to set up some short birdie
putts, including four from within five feet. After making the turn at
four-under, he had a quieter back-nine which featured a birdie and a bogey
each. His longest putt of the day was the 22-feet birdie conversion on the 15th.
Sharma said, “It’s the kind of start I was looking for. I
started well last week as well but slipped towards the end of the tournament
after some poor hitting. My driving was good today and I hit it pretty close on
a number of occasions thus negating the tough scoring conditions.
“However, it was a little disappointing to miss some birdie
opportunities towards the close of the round. I missed out from 10 feet and
less on the last three holes. It’s all about confidence now. Playing one shot
at a time and focusing hard will be the key now,” added Sudhir, who slipped
from joint first in round one to tied 23rd in
round four at last week’s event in Kochi.
Title holder Harendra Gupta made a promising start with a
three-under-68 to take a share of second place. Gupta pulled off a magical
recovery for birdie on the opening hole where he had a blind second shot from
the adjoining fairway. He managed to land that 17 feet from the pin thanks to a
low hook and converted the putt.
Three more birdies and a bogey followed for Harendra who is
playing the 2017 season with a new set of irons.
Gupta said, “I played the first five holes really well but
then there was a flurry of missed opportunities. So it was a kind of mixed day
for me. The superb recovery on the first hole was crucial. Had that second shot
gone wrong, I could’ve been in deep trouble and may have ended up with an
over-par score. It’s now about building on the decent start.”
KPS Sekhon made an astonishing recovery despite an early
triple bogey on the 11th, his second hole of the day, where he had
found the hazard, to post a 68. He was at two-over through 13 holes when he
came up with a dream run of five straight birdies to end up with an impressive
three-under.
“My putter was on fire from the fifth hole onwards as I made
two consecutive 10-feet conversions. I just rode on the momentum after those
putts fell in.
“I had not been putting well before this event since I was
putting too much pressure on myself on the greens by thinking about the
results. But today I focused on just stroking it well and didn’t really think
about the results. I was more relaxed and process-oriented today rather than
being result-oriented. That helped my performance,” said the 41-year-old Sekhon.
Khalin Joshi shot four birdies and a bogey to also share the
second spot along with Gupta and Sekhon at three-under-68.
PGTI Order of Merit leader Shamim Khan of Delhi was bunched
together with seven other golfers in tied fifth at two-under-69.
Maharashtra-based golfers, Gurki Shergill of Pune and
Mumbai’s Anil Bajrang Mane were both in tied 22nd at
even-par-71.
Patna's Aman Raj was placed tied 33rd along with 10 others with a score of at par.
PGTI release
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