November 02, 2016: A fine effort by Digvijay Singh and Shubhankar Sharma saw the duo gain a comfortable three shot lead in the PGTI Players Championship at the Tollygunge Club. Digvijay Singh posted a brilliant 63, emulated only by Shubhankar Sharma. Amateur golfer Karandeep Kochhar, Honey Baisoya and Divyanshu Bajaj were all tied in the third position, with a 66 in the opening round of the tournament in Kolkata.
Digvijay Singh, along with Manu Gandas, were the only two men to have marched the course unscathed, reaching the clubhouse without a blemish on their cards.
Incidentally, Digvijay Singh was just one under through the first nine holes, his lone birdie at that stage coming at the par-5 7th hole. He took 33 strokes to make the turn.
But he caught fire thereafter, lighting up the Tollygunge Club course with a string of birdies. Digvijay Singh made four consecutive birdies to end his round on a high. He made six birdies on the back nine.
Shubhankar Sharma took the other way around – needing just 30 strokes on the front nine including four holes. The young golfer suffered a blip on the turn, conceding a bogey at the par-5 10th hole.
The highlight of Shubhankar Sharma’s round was an eagle at the par-5 13th hole followed by two more birdies at the next two holes.
Karandeep Kochhar was most impressive, firing away to a blazing start. He was four under through seven holes. He suffered bogeys at the 8th and 13th holes, but punctuated that with a terrific eagle at the par-5 10th hole.
Honey Baisoya ended the day with a pair of birdies for a fine 66 while Divyanshu Bajaj kept his sheet clean after suffering a bogey at the fifth hole.
Bikramjit Singh Sandhu, Kapil Kumar, Abhinav Lohan, Abhijit Singh Chadha, Maniram, Mukesh Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Shankar Das and Khalin Joshi shot 67 each to round off the top ten.
