Khalin Joshi fires Chennai ahead

Report by Anand Datla

June 11, 2015: Khalin Joshi and Jyoti Randhawa played some good quality golf to fire their respective teams to the top of table in the Louis Philippe Cup. Shankar Das, as unassuming as they come, was just as brilliant but could not benefit as much with his Lankan mates not responding to the challenge of the course at the Karnataka Golf Association. The three best golfers on display in the first round of the league format event, shot 69 with Chennai and Mumbai lying T1 and defending champions Ahmedabad in T4 alongside Bengaluru.

Each team has three golfers playing 18 holes each, with the two best scores getting added to determine the score of the teams at the end of the day.

Joshi’s three under was supplemented by a 71 from S Chikkarangappa to help the Chennai team to the top of the table. SSP Chawrasia could only make two over 74, leaving the score in the hands of Joshi and Chikka.

The Mumbai team saw disciplined efforts from all three of their golfers – Randhawa (69), Mukesh Kumar (71) and Manav Jani (72) to join Chennai in T1. On the evidence of the golf on Thursday, it was difficult to believe that Randhawa has been Fly Fishing in Kashmir and Slovenia for the past two months.

Noida was the other team that suffered no damage to their cards – with Gaganjeet Bhullar and Rashid Khan carding an even 72 to add to the 70 by Shamim Khan and place third at the end of the first round.

“It was a tough day. I could have done much better but struggled a lot with my putting. 8th and 17th holes that are pretty straight and I always make birdies on them; I ended up making bogeys today. Five birdies and two bogeys at this course is not what I expected,” said an unimpressed Joshi.

“The putter that I changed during this year’s Indian Open did wonders for me from February to about three weeks ago but over the last two weeks it has been the other way around. I will practice my putting today and hopefully can convert some more birdies and eagles tomorrow.”

“I had a game plan in mind and played very well according to that. I would love to take the under par scores any day. It was just the last hole, which was out of focus but overall it was a great day,” averred Randhawa.

“A very close battle is expected and spectators will see leaders change hands often over the next two days unless someone comes along and shoots a 63 or 64 individually. However any of the 21 players competing this week is capable of shooting such a score, so you just can’t tell which team will break away from the pack tomorrow.”

Louis Philippe Cup 2015 – Team standings (Round 1):
Laqshya Mumbai 4-under 140 (Jyoti Randhawa 69, Mukesh Kumar 71, Manav Jaini 72);
TAKE Chennai 4-under 140 (Khalin Joshi 69, Chikkarangappa 71, SSP Chawrasia 74);
Jaypee Greens Greater Noida 2-under 142 (Gaganjeet Bhullar 72, Rashid Khan 72, Shamim Khan 70);
Navratna Ahmedabad 1-under-143 (Mithun Perera 74, Anura Rohana 76, Shankar Das 69);
Zion Hills Bengaluru 1-under-143 (Rahil Gangjee 73, C Muniyappa 70, Abhijit Chadha 73);
DLF The Crest Gurgaon 1-under-143 (Shubhankar Sharma 70, Manu Gandas 73, Abhinav Lohan 78);
Dev-Ellora Pune 1-under-143 (Siddikur 76, Om Prakash Chouhan 71, Sanjay Kumar 72)

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