Chikkarangappa emerges on top with a brilliant 62

A scorching run midway through his round, earned Chikkarangappa a one-stroke lead over Amardeep Malik in the Tata Steel Tour Championship.

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Chikkarangappa S - PGTI Tour - Jamshedpur

A string of low scores set the tone for a scintillating week at the Golmuri Golf Course in Jamshedpur. Playing in the afternoon groups, Chikkarangappa began with a birdie before taking pars on the two par-5s that followed. It is mighty impressive then for the Bengaluru golfer to scorch the course, playing with great imagination and intent for a thrilling 62 to take the first round lead in the Tata Steel Tour Championship.

Earlier in the day, Manu Gandas and Kshitij Naveed Kaul took charge with a 64 in the morning, but their stint at the top did not last long. Amardeep Malik also played some spectacular golf for his 63 to nudge himself between the eventual leader Chikkarangappa and the two men who were warming themselves inside the clubhouse.

Amardeep Malik was unstoppable, firing four birdies in a row on both the front and back nine, before finishing with another fine birdie on the 17th hole for a spotless 63. Karandeep Kochhar and SSP Chawrasia also did not make a bogey on Thursday.

Harendra Gupta and Arjun Prasad emulated Gandas and Kaul for a four way logjam in the third place. Gupta reached home without any blot on his card, picking up four birdies on either stretch for his 64.

Chikkarangappa picked up nine strokes between the fifth and thirteenth holes, making just a solitary par at the eighth hole. Stringing a series of birides, he went one better at the par-5 12th hole, where he made an eagle. Incredibly, the 10-under score on his card included a bogey five at the 17th hole too.

“I changed my putter this week as I was struggling to hole putts in previous events even though I was stroking it well on the greens. The new putter seems to be working for me as I holed a lot of long putts today.

“I’ve been in contention in all events since the tour resumed in November this year. However, I still need to convert my good starts at events into better finishes. Hopefully, with my driving, wedge-play and putting now shaping up well, I can have a good result this week.

“Golmuri is more scoring among the two courses this week so I expect Beldih to throw up its own set of challenges when I play there during round two,” added Chikka, who finished a creditable second at the PGTI event in Jamshedpur in 2018.

Chikkarangappa was pretty thrilled about his performance on Thursday

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu was keeping company with Anirban Lahiri and Karandeep Kochhar after each of them made a 65 for T7 through 18 holes. Lahiri and Kochhar were locked in an engaging playoff duel in Chandigarh, before the latter won on the third playoff hole, during an extended session on Monday a couple of weeks ago.

Khalin Joshi, Om Prakash Chouhan and Trishul Chinnappa rounded off the top ten with a six-under 66 on Thursday. Udayan Mane and Rashid Khan, two of India’s top ranked golfers are both in trouble. The former is 1-under and the latter a further shot back, with the cut estimated to fall around 2-under.