Gaganjeet Bhullar 70 at KLM Open

Report by Anand Datla

September 11, 2014: On a day of truncated action in the KLM Open at the Kennemer Golf and Country Club, Gaganjeet Bhullar was the only Indian to complete his first round. Bhullar shot an even par 70 to be T44 on a leaderboard littered with low scores. Defending champion Joost Luiten got off to a dream start to share the lead with Jamie McLeary. Luiten was even through the first eleven holes, but shot himself to the top with three birdies and an eagle in the final seven holes. McLeary was five under too, but he still had two holes left to play. Jeev Milkha Singh was two over through 17 and Shiv Kapur three over through 13 holes, neither man will have slept well.

At the 570 yard par-5 second hole, Bhullar shot a six to get off to a shaky start. The 315th ranked golfer recovered with back to back birdies at 7 & 8 to turn in 35. But two more bogies on the inward nine dropped him back into one over par. Bhullar finished his round with a birdie at the par-4 18th to sign off with an even par 70.

Milkha Singh had a colourful day on the course, with his round punctuated with bogeys and birdies all the way through. Singh was one over on the front nine, but he had begun his day on the back nine with a double bogey and never quite recovered from that setback. Overall, Jeev had four bogeys, four birdies and a double bogey to remain two over through 17 holes.

Shiv Kapur slipped to four over through the front nine, a double bogey at the sixth and consecutive bogeys at 8 & 9 damaging his card. Kapur completed thirteen holes and added a birdie before poor light sent the golfers off the course for the day.

Fabrizio Zanotti had to be rushed to hospital after turning victim to a freak accident. The Italian was standing on the 16th fairway when a wayward tee shot by Alexandre Kaleka from the 14th hole hit him. Zanotti received medical attention on the course before being taken to hospital.

In a heart warming gesture, Felipe Aguilar and Ricardo Gonzalez opted to withdraw from the tournament to accompany Zanotti and stay with him at the hospital. Play was suspended at 11.09am to allow the player to receive treatment and resumed at 1pm. Miguel Vidaor, Tournament Director for The European Tour, said: “The latest report from hospital is that all neurological tests have come back clear. We wish Fabrizio a speedy recovery.”

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