Mar 09, 2018: Jeev Milkha Singh, who played with young Ajeetesh Sandhu, could not stop gushing about the youngster, who last year broke through with his maiden win on the Asian Tour.
Sandhu’s classy 68 made him the best-placed Indian on the first day at the Hero Indian Open 2018, as he lies three strokes behind the clubhouse leader Emiliano Grillo of Argentina.
Twenty-four players out of 144 had not finished their rounds on Thursday due to fading light.
Arjun Atwal (71) was the only other Indian who finished with a sub-par round. Among the other prominent Indian names who finished their rounds were 2015 champion Anirban Lahiri (72), Jyoti Randhawa (72), the highest-ranked player in the field Shubhankar Sharma (73) and defending champion SSP Chawrasia (74).
Sandhu, who enjoyed his breakout season on the Asian Tour in 2017 thanks to his victory in Taipei, got on a roll from the sixth hole onwards making four birdies over a stretch of eight holes. The highlight of the stretch was his approach on the 11th that landed within a foot.
The Chandigarh lad’s only blemish was the bogey on the 14th where he three-putted. The 29-year-old Sandhu collected another birdie on the 15th to end up as the only Indian in the top-10.
Ajeetesh said, “I can say today’s round was almost a dream round. My hitting was just amazing. I hit all fairways and made regulation on 17 out of 18 greens. We were a little lucky that the wind wasn’t up today otherwise this course can pose many more challenges.
“I just missed a few putts out there but that wasn’t due to bad putting. There were a few lip-outs.”
“I was very comfortable playing with Jeev as I’ve played a lot of golf with him in Chandigarh. I must admit that there was a little pressure at the start as this is my National Open, but Jeev’s presence in the same group helped calm me down.”
Atwal was two-under through 13 holes but hit a rough patch when he dropped a double-bogey and a bogey on the 14th and 15th. However, the 1999 Indian Open champion rallied with birdies on the last two holes.
Lahiri, the 2015 champion, had a poor front-nine with two bogeys but managed to make ground on the back-nine with two birdies. Lahiri said, “It was frustrating on the front-nine with a few bad drives and some putts missed. I had to stay calm going into the back-nine and that helped me. The back-nine was far better even though I got a little unlucky with the lip out on the 15th where I was in a good position for a birdie.”
Shubhankar Sharma, the pre-tournament favourite who entered the event fresh from his exploits at the WGC – Mexico Championship where he finished tied ninth, came up with a hard-fought 73 to keep himself in the mix. He was looking down the barrel with three bogeys and a double-bogey on the back-nine but then roared back with four birdies on the front-nine.
Udayan Mane and amateur Kshitij Naveed Kaul were looking good with scores of two-under when play was suspended. While Udayan has two holes to finish in round one, Kshitij has just one to go.
Asian Tour Release
