Bhullar shot par 72 in the opening round at WGC-HSBC Champions

Reed leads the way in Shanghai. Bhullar shot par 72, Shubhankar shot 80 in the opening round of WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club.

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Gaganjeet Bhullar at the Shinhan Donghae Open

Oct 25, 2018: America’s Patrick Reed fired a brilliant opening 64 in windy conditions to take the first-round lead. Gaganjeet Bhullar of India started with a balanced round on the opening day of WGC-HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club.

Bhullar shot three birdies and equal number of bogeys to maintain the equilibrium with par 72 in the first round and lying at T27. Fellow Indian Shubhankar Sharma had a very rough start with two birdies, eight bogeys and a double bogey. He shot eight-over-par 80.

The Masters Tournament champion Patrick Reed was teeing it up for the first time since the Ryder Cup in Shanghai but he showed no signs of rust, making eight birdies in a bogey-free effort that moved him to eight under, two shots ahead of fellow Americans Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele.

Matthew Fitzpatrick was then at five under, a shot clear of fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello, American Billy Horschel and Taiwan’s C.T. Pan.

Reed already has one World Golf Championships title to his name at the 2014 WGC-Cadillac Championship and has three top tens to go with his Augusta National triumph this season to sit third in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.

Reed holed a 20-footer on the 11th and a nice tee-shot into the 12th moved him to two under before a stunning approach into the 15th kept him in a share of the lead.

The par four 16th was driveable and Reed put his tee-shot on the front edge, getting down in two for another birdie and the solo lead.

He briefly had company at four under but he then put his foot down, holing a ten-footer at the first, getting on the par five second in two and making a six-footer on the third to jump out into a three-shot lead.

The advantage was trimmed to two as the pack jostled behind the 28 year old but Reed was in no mood to be caught and holed an 18-footer on the last for a closing birdie.

Affiliate European Tour Member Schauffele was celebrating his 25th birthday on Thursday and a bogey-free 66 will have made the cake all the sweeter, with birdies on the 17th and 18th, a hat-trick of gains from the second and a stunning approach to the seventh seeing him cut the lead.

“We knew it was going to be kind of windy today and a little tricky with the dog-legs,” he said. “We kept the ball in the fairway for the most part which made the approaches a little easier.”

Finau holed huge putts on the 11th and 15th and made the most of the par five 14th and 18th to turn in 32 before some dialled-in iron play brought gains on the third and fifth. A bogey on the sixth threatened to stall his progress but another birdie on the eighth gave him a share of second.

Fitzpatrick has two top tens in three appearances here but got off to a shaky start with bogeys on the 11th and 13th.

A first birdie of the day came on the next and he made five in a row from the 16th to surge up the leaderboard. Another dropped shot came on the third but Fitzpatrick birdied the seventh and eighth for a 67.

Reigning Race to Dubai champion Fleetwood also bogeyed the 11th but birdies on the 17th, 18th, second, fifth, seventh and eighth put him in contention before he bogeyed his final hole.

Cabrera Bello also bogeyed the ninth to go with another dropped shot on the second and birdies on the 16th, 18th, first, third, fifth and seventh.

Aphibarnrat made six birdies on the tenth, 16th, 18th, first, second and eighth, with dropped shots on the 14th and fifth.

Horschel and Pan were both bogey-free in their efforts, with defending champion Justin Rose, 2012 winner Ian Poulter, fellow Englishman Matt Wallace, American Keegan Bradley, South African George Coetzee and Australian Adam Scott a shot further back.

 

European Tour Release

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