October 06, 2016: Indian golfers invaded the Royale Jakarta Golf Club today, mounting a formidable challenge for honours in the Indonesian Masters. Gaganjeet Bhullar fired an imaginative 66 while Arjun Atwal came home to a 67, decorating the leaderboard with the tricolour. Bhullar shares the lead with Gunn Charoenkul and Masahiro Kawamura. Atwal was lying T4 with Phachara Khongwatmai and Suradit Yongcharoenchai.
Bhullar overcame early nerves to produce a fine round highlighted by three straight birdies from the 12 hole. He added another birdie on hole 16 and returned with birdies on seven and nine to stay atop the leaderboard.
“It was a bogey free round and at the end of the day, that’s the target. I’m trying to repeat what I did last week,” said Bhullar a six-time Asian Tour winner.
“In the beginning I was a bit nervous. Coming straight after a victory, your mental aspect is slightly different. You try to go for a par and try not to attack the pins. I putted really well today especially on 12, 13 and 14 (birdies) and those were all from 10 or 15 feet which I holed,” he added.
Shiv Kapur made an assured 68 to settle inside the top 10. The Delhi golfer is playing his second tournament since being sidelined through injury. He missed the cut in Korea last week.
Jeev Milkha Singh endured a stinging pain in his back and a strong dose of anti-inflammatory medication to post an impressive 69.
Khalin Joshi and Himmat Rai gave a good account of India’s emerging talent with a solid effort of 70 each through the first 18 holes in Indonesia. Jyoti Randhawa and S Chikkarangappa also scored 70 on a wonderful day for Indian golf.
Abhijit Chadha made one under 71, only good enough for T51, on a day of consistently low scores by the field. As many as 61 golfers finished under par on the first day of the US$750,000 Asian Tour event.
Chiragh Kumar and Abhinav Lohan will have their task cut out on Friday after the duo made an even 72 in the first round. They will need to dip lower in the second round to ensure they do not fall victim to the knife.
Shankar Das and Rahil Gangjee will begin their rounds tomorrow with their backs to the wall. The two made 73 each in the first round.
Anirban Lahiri suffered a rare day of inconsistency, as he slipped to T113 with a score of 75. Shubhankar Sharma also had a poor day on the course, signing on a 77, lying in T135.
Anand Datla with inputs from Asian Tour
