Jyoti Randhawa leads at Hong Kong

Jyoti Randhawa of India holed 23 putts en-route to a six-under-par 64 to grab the first round lead at the US$1.3 million Hong Kong Open on Thursday.

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Hong Kong, October 16: Jyoti Randhawa of India holed 23 putts en-route to a six-under-par 64 to grab the first round lead at the US$1.3 million Hong Kong Open on Thursday.

 

The 2002 Asian Tour number one said he ‘putted his heart out’ in a round of seven birdies and one bogey to take a one-shot lead over Angelo Que of the Philippines at the Hong Kong Golf Club.

 

Ernie Els of South Africa, who is an Honorary Member and International Ambassador of the Asian Tour, made it a memorable return to Hong Kong after 18 years by shooting a 66 to share fourth place alongside eight other players including Lu Wei-chih of Chinese Taipei and Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium.

 

Miguel Angel Jimenez’s ambitions of winning an unprecedented fifth Hong Kong Open title was hampered by a stomach bug as the Spaniard returned with a disappointing 72 to lie in 103rd position in the event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

 

Randhawa, 42, rediscovered some of his best form courtesy of a hot putter which resulted in two closing birdies at the Fanling course.

 

“I’ve been playing decent in the last few weeks but haven’t been able to put up a good number. Today I really putted my heart out, so I’m really happy with the way it went, and I’m glad I got the pace on the greens right,” he smiled.

 

The popular Indian, who has eight Asian Tour victories but not since 2009, says that regular exercise, has helped improve his golf game.

 

“I’ve been working on my physical fitness with my coach. We’ve been doing a lot of cardio and building my lower body. I changed my swing last year and I’m swinging better because of a more stable lower body. It is still not that strong but I’m working on it,” said Randhawa.

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