02 September 2021: The course at the Hyderabad Golf Club has an inviting freshness to it, the monsoon feeding its blades into a brilliant shade of green. The Gills found it appetising. Pukhraj Singh Gill and Digraj Singh Gill carry sport in their veins. And they found their blossom in the inviting arms of the Hyderabad Golf Club. The elder brother, Pukhraj, drove his way through the course to an imposing 64, enough for a share of the lead with the reflective Manu Gandas. Yashas Chandra was three-under on either side of the course, taking him within a stroke of the leaders.
The younger brother worked his way to a 66, for a share of fourth with Amardeep Malik.
The two young men from Ludhiana will enjoy their conversation this evening with their father. The old man knows a thing or two about sport, having played competitive football, international hockey and some amateur golf. That is plenty of sport rolled into a life.
No wonder then that he has ingrained in his two young sons a passion for sport, plodding them along as they perfected the drills needed to learn the skills of golf. In the absence of a good golf course in Ludhiana, the senior Gill used his ingenuity to turn a football field into a driving range, tending carefully to the grass on the pitch.
Pukhraj has absorbed those lessons well. The first is a tricky 375 yard par-4 abutting the driving range. You cannot miss left or right as the trees lining the right of the fairway and the range to the left are out of bounds. Karan Taunk found it to his dismay today when he drove into the range and punched a triple bogey on his card.
No such pain for Pukhraj Gill. He can comfortably sail 290 yards with his driver. The first fairway opens up nicely if you can fly it past the driving range, with a water hazard separating the fairway and the green. Gill chose to innovate. He flew over the range and onto the second fairway, which offers a clear view of the first green. The 24-year-old navigated to the green in two and produced a birdie to make an emphatic start to the round.
He has been hard at work during the coronavirus driven offseason, working his skills and fitness at the Jaypee Greens in Noida, a challenging test of golf. The practice was paying him rewards today in Hyderabad.
“It feels great, been a long break from tournaments. I really worked hard during the offseason,” said Pukhraj. “I am grateful that my efforts and drills bore fruit today. I am happy with the start and will look to stick to the routine for the rest of the week.”
“I was very accurate off the tee, had great lengths too. The rough is high this week and it is really important that we stick it in the fairway. I was able to do that,” added the golfer, now based in Noida.
“The back nine has a lot more undulation,” felt Pukhraj, “it is very tempting, a risk-reward play. There are a lot of elevation changes on the second nine, so you need to be far more careful about your shot shape and distance. The front nine is far more straightforward, it is as it seems on the scorecard. I feel the back nine is a trickier than it seems.”
He is surely worth watching out for this week and beyond, particularly if he can continue to keep his tee shots on the plane and in the fairway. At 7-under after a spotless 64, he has a two-shot cushion setting up for a promising week, on the back of his best returns a professional golfer. Pukhraj showed plenty of hunger in the opening round, punctuating a seven-hole barren stretch with a flurry of four birdies to finish with a share of the lead.
Gandas, shy and soft spoken is keeping the Punjabi golfer company at the top of the leaderboard. The golfer practices his craft under the watchful eyes of Anitya Chand at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram. The 25-year-old has five top tens in the 2021 combined season on the PGTI circuit and a runner up finish at the Glade Masters left a tinge of disappointment after starting the final round with a share of the lead.
He appeared to bring that appetite to the course today. Starting on the tenth, he was two-under through the 16th hole, before a bogey at the 18th made him turn in 35 strokes. As if pinched by that lost stroke, Gandas tore into the course with renewed vigour. He shot six birdies on his second nine, including four of the last five holes for an emphatic finish, much like Pukhraj, who came home on four straight birdies.
Gandas could have even made if five out of five from the fifth hole, had he found the cup from ten feet on the seventh hole. “I felt that my game worked all around today. I was happy with every part of my game,” he said. “I started the day really well with birdies on the two par-3s on the back nine. And even though I conceded a shot at the turn, I was confident in my game. I also found my touch and putts started to roll a lot better from the first hole (his second nine today).”
Back to the Gills. Younger brother Digraj has been working steadfastly on his fitness during the offseason. And the results today were gratifying. The golfer has developed a leaner frame, since struggling to complete his round at the Chittagong Open. He got off to a rousing start and despite some setbacks on the way home, he remained steady enough to sign on a 66 to remain firmly on the heels of his elder brother. Digraj made six birdies and an eagle on the par-4 14th hole during his opening round at the Hyderabad Golf Club.
Amardeep Malik was his regular happy self, soon as he turned his card in at the scorer’s hut right next to the first tee box. “We are all just excited to be traveling again and play golf. I believe it will be a few more rounds before we all ignite our competitive juices, but for now, just grateful to be back here playing golf.” That seemed to have worked just fine for Malik, who shot 66 with the help of six birdies.
