Simarjeet Singh drives Uttar Pradesh 'A' clear at Tata Steel Inter State Golf Championship

 He also leads the individual event with a score of four under-par 67 along with Harimohan Singh of Uttar Pradesh 'C'.

Simarjeet, who won the Tata Steel Tamil Nadu Amateur back in June, was ably supported by teammate Samarth Dwivedi carding a one under-par 70, fresh from representing India at the recently concluded Incheon Asian Games.

There were a flurry of red digits with Karnataka 'A’s Udayan Mane a stroke behind at three-under-par 68 along with Gunvir Rana. Five others were pegged at two-under par 69 followed by ten golfers a further stroke behind as players made optimum use of great course conditions.

Simarjeet, starting from the 1st tee, dropped a stroke immediately on the opening hole before recovering with consecutive birdies on the 3rd and 4th holes and followed that up with another birdie on the Par 5 9th hole and take the turn at two-under.

In contrast, Harimohan birdied the first but had consecutive bogeys on the 2nd and 3rd before gaining strokes on the 4th, 8th and 9th holes. Both made three birdies on the back nine to go along with a lone bogey to finish at four-under par for the day.

Looking relaxed, Simarjeet said, “I was hitting it really well out there and tried to gain as many strokes as I could against this golf course”. Co-leader Harimohan added “The aim is to be consistent from here on as a lot of guys are in the vicinity and one bad stroke can mean a big drop on the leaderboard.”

Top Scores (after 18 holes):

Individual:

67 Harimohan Singh, Simarjeet Singh; 68 Gunvir Rana, Udayan Mane; 69 Aman Raj, Lakhan Singh, Md. Wasil, Sunit Chowrasia, Vinay Kumar Yadav; 70 Aaditya Gupta, Anant Singh Ahlawat, Babloo Yadav, Dhruv Sheoran, Jairam Bharadwaj, Samarth Dwivedi

Team:

137 Uttar Pradesh 'A'; 141 Haryana 'B'; 142 Services 'B', Services 'C', West Bengal 'B'; 143 Karnataka 'A', Karnataka 'B', Uttar Pradesh 'C'; 144 West Bengal 'A'