08 March, 2018: Even on a day of spectacular calm and beauty at the DLF Golf & Country Club, the field was torn in half as if they were separated by a fiery storm that ran through the ranks. At the top of the heap was Emiliano Grillo, seven under, with a two-stroke cushion over a group of five golfers. Ajeetesh Sandhu earned high praise from Jeev Milkha Singh for a disciplined 68 that pushed him up to T7 at the end of the first round. Lying in tied second are Pablo Larrazabal, Matteo Manassero, Paul Peterson, Adrien Saddier (17) and Keith Horne (16). The last two will complete their round early on Friday.
Shubhankar Sharma showed enormous reservoirs of grit and willingness to grind out on a testing day in Gurgaon. He was deep in debt at the turn, bleeding five strokes by the time he made it past the bend.
The long journey from Mexico and the flipping of the clock seemed to be getting the better of the young man. But he isn’t one of those golfers who melts away under the weight of circumstances.
Shubhankar grew up learning his craft in the city. “We used to play a challenge among friends,” he told us. “As young boys, we would come here and aim to play five under on the first nine holes. Today I started on the tenth and things did not go very well. So I imagined at the bend, that I am playing this challenge with my friends.”
Quickly, the double bogey at the 16th and the bogey at 18 were just a fading memory. Fueled by the memories of his younger days, Shubhankar produced four birdies, including back to back tricks at the 7th & 8th to come home at +1 and well on his way to another good assault over the weekend.
Udayan Mane (16) and amateur Kshitij Naveed Kaul (17) were locked at T19 when play was suspended for poor light. Arjun Atwal produced a creditable 71, playing in the afternoon session. Khalin Joshi, Jyoti Randhawa, Honey Baisoya and Anirban Lahiri ended the day with a 72.
Defending champion SSP Chawrasia began with a disappointing double bogey at the first hole, compounded by two more lost strokes inside the first five holes. He made a terrific recovery from there to fire back to even terms by the 12th hole. At the end of a grinding day, the 39-year-old finished at two over, in T73.
Meanwhile, Anirban Lahiri, playing in the same group of Chawrasia started with a par and remained rooted at even par through to the end of the first round.
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