Oct 6, 2016: Gaganjeet Bhullar of India continued his fine form as he fired a six-under-par 66 to share the clubhouse lead with Gunn Charoenkul of Thailand at the BNI Indonesian Masters presented by Zurich on Thursday.
Coming off a victory in Korea last week, Bhullar produced a flawless round to tie at the top alongside sponsor’s invite Gunn, who is finding his best form again after returning from a wrist injury.
Arjun Atwal, a former Asian Tour number one and first Indian to win on the PGA Tour, was a further shot back on 67 at the US$750,000 event staged at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand
Lu Wei-chih of Chinese Taipei, who won on home soil last week, Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, Namchok Tantipokhakul and Darren Tan of Australia returned on matching 68s to share fourth place.
Bhullar overcame early nerves to produce a fine round highlighted by three straight birdies from the 12 hole. He added another birdie on hole 16 and returned with birdies on seven and nine to stay atop the leaderboard.
“It was a bogey free round and at the end of the day, that’s the target. I’m trying to repeat what I did last week,” said Bhullar a six-time Asian Tour winner.
“In the beginning I was a bit nervous. Coming straight after a victory, your mental aspect is slightly different. You try to go for a par and try not to attack the pins. I putted really well today especially on 12, 13 and 14 (birdies) and those were all from 10 or 15 feet which I holed,” he added.
Gunn suffered a wrist injury in 2014 and is slowly finding his form again after winning on the local circuit in Thailand in July and in China in September. He looks to Bhullar for inspiration as he seeks to return to the Asian Tour with full playing rights.
“I’m feeling pretty excited to be tied at the top with Gaganjeet. He just came off an injury and won. I think we had the same injury as well (wrist injury). I’m glad that we are both playing well,” said the 24-year-old Gunn.
“I was striking the ball well in the first seven holes but didn’t manage to hole any putts. I birdied the last two holes and that pretty much gives me the confidence going into tomorrow,” he added.
Asian Tour Release
