September 17, 2015: It was another day to rejoice for Indian golfing fans, with our golfers enjoying a brilliant start to the Open D’Italia outside Milan. Shiv Kapur was particularly impressive, firing a mighty seven under 65 to put himself among the early leaders at the Golf Club Milano. Nicolas Colsaerts was the runaway leader, gaining a two shot advantage over Kapur, Francesco Molinari and Kristoffer Broberg, on the back of a brilliant 63 in the first round. SSP Chawrasia and Jeev Milkha Singh also enjoyed a reasonably good day on the course, shooting 69 and 68 respectively.
Kapur made three birdies in the first six holes, before surrendering the only bogey on his first round card at the par-3 7th hole. After making four straight pars, Kapur caught a hot streak when he fired consecutive birdies from the 12th through 15th holes before signing off with another flourish at the final hole.
Having struggled to make an impact all season, the round came as a breath of fresh energy for the 436th ranked Indian golfer. “It finally felt good to get a few nice putts going in. I hope this will reverse the trend and I hope I can keep the momentum going,” said Kapur.
Jeev started his round from the 10th tee, from where he made four birdies and a bogey to complete his first nine holes in 33 shots. The 42 year old Indian fired two more birdies on the way home to sign off on a 68 and end the first day in T23.
Five birdies and two bogeys accounted for a 69 by Chawrasia, who is lying right behind Singh in T39. With nearly a hundred golfers breaking par in Milan, it looks like the cut might fall around 2 or 3 under when the blade is swiped on Friday.
“I have missed the cut in last few events by small margins. I am playing fine, but putting needs to fall in place,” said Chawrasia.
The star of the day though was Colsaerts. He shot eight straight birdies in one stretch, tying the European record for most consecutive birdies, riding the streak to a memorable blemishless 63.
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