Gaurav Pratap Singh endures poor start, to set the pace with opening round 65

Gaurav signed a card of seven-under-65 to lead by one over Mukesh Kumar of Mhow and Kolkata’s Shankar Das, both of whom shot scores of six-under-66.

The tournament was inaugurated on Wednesday.

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 14th that 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 14th after 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.