26 April, 2018: Local hope Daxing Jin surprised himself by signing for a flawless opening round of eight-under-par 64 to grab the clubhouse lead by one shot at the Volvo China Open on Thursday. Gaganjeet Bhullar made a clean start, firing a pair of birdies on either stretch to come home with a blemish free 68.
Arjun Atwal continued his good run with a solid 69, which was also spotless. He shot a birdie on the front nine before adding two more on his way inside.
Shubhankar Sharma is back in Asia, after a long stretch on the American shores. He got off to a rocky start. After a birdie at the first hole, Shubhankar was quickly in trouble as he conceded a hattrick of bogeys. But he turned it around nicely to get even before he reached the turn.
From two over through the 4th, Shubhankar recovered to even by the 8th hole. He added birdies at the 11th, 15th and 18th to come home with a nice flourish. His first round card of 69 helped him into T18, with Atwal for company.
Rahil Gangjee makes a good start in The Crowns
Playing in his first event a full time member of the Japan Golf Tour, Rahil Gangjee produced two birdies in the last three holes to end the first round with a one under score of 69.
Gangjee qualified to play in the Volvo China Open when he won the Panasonic Japan Open last week. But he also gained a two year exemption to the JGTO and the 39 year old decided to strengthen his position on the lucrative Japanese tour by staying back for The Crowns.
Gangjee, playing the Wago course inside the Nagoya Golf Club, produced twelve straight pars to begin his day. A bogey at the 13th put a spot on his card, but Gangjee recovered to make birdies at the 16th and 18th holes.
Anthony Quayle and Rikuya Hoshino lead the tournament on the back of a brilliant 65 in the opening round. The Wago course plays to a par score of 70.
The 25-year-old Jin, who has never make the halfway cut in his last four appearances at his National Open, is thrilled to highlight his bogey-free card with six birdies and a chip-in eagle on the par-five eighth hole at the Beijing Topwin Golf and Country Club.
“I played really well. I’m really happy with my form and I have to say I would give myself 100 marks for today’s round. My strategy today was just to hit the greens in the regulation and I did that for 17 of the 18 holes, and the one I missed I managed a par, so that was great,” said Jin.
Jin is part of the record 42 players representing China in the CN¥20,000,000 (approx. US$3,178,000) event, which is celebrating its 24th consecutive edition this week as the oldest professional golf tournament in the country.
“On the eighth, I was about 10 yards from the pin with my second shot and I saw Scott (Jamieson) make eagle from a similar position so I had confidence that I might chip it in. I read the line from Scott’s shot and holed it.
“I’ve been relaxed coming into this week because I don’t have too much expectation but I’ll just keep playing one stroke at a time, one day at a time and see how it goes for me,” added Jin.
England’s Matt Wallace, who claimed his breakthrough win in India last month, closed out his round in style with an eagle-birdie from the eighth to trail by one in second place.
“I had a great group today and it was nice to catch up with Alexander Bjork and Julian Suri whom I haven’t seen in a while. He was making a couple of birdies and I was making some too and we were rubbing off each other which was good.
“This is my first full year on tour, I really like the country and I love the golf course and the weather was perfect today. I drove it well today which was key, setting it up nicely on the fairwway so I can get it close on the green,” said the 28-year-old Wallace.
Bhullar made birdies at the 6th, 8th, 13th and 15th holes on his way to a stellar round of golf at the Topwin Golf & Country Club.
“It was a steady round for me. I hit about 12 fairways and made 16 greens-in-regulation. I hit the ball good all day and gave myself a lot of looks, also didn’t make any major errors,” explained Bhullar.
The morning conditions were great and the greens today are probably the best I’ve played on since I started playing this event a couple of years back. They are true to speed and fast which I like. My game is coming back in shape after last year’s victory in Macao.”
Bhullar is lying in T8, four strokes behind the leader.
Khalin Joshi signed off with a birdie at the 18th to cap off a nice round with a 71 on his card. Ajeetesh Sandhu took a circuitous route to his even 72, needing four birdies to offset just as many bogeys that he made.
The Pansonic swing winner, Shiv Kapur, made a 73. He also struck four birdies but a double at the 16th and three other bogeys meant that his good work was negated.
SSP Chawrasia made 75, while Jeev Milkha Singh shot 77 in the opening round.
With inputs from the Asian Tour
