November 05, 2015: Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka birdied four of his closing five holes to lead in the opening round of the US$400,000 Panasonic Open India on six-under-par 66 on Thursday.
The bubbly Sri Lankan, who is searching for a first Asian Tour title, fired seven birdies to hold a one-shot advantage over an in-form Chiragh Kumar of India and Sattaya Supupramai of Thailand, who missed a five-foot birdie on the last hole at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC).
DGC expert Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh, N. Thangaraja of Sri Lanka, India’s Abhijit Chadha and Thai duo Thaworn Wiratchant, a two-time Asian Tour number one and Thitiphun Chuayprakong shared fourth place on 68s.
Perera, who lost in a three-way play-off in this event last year, turned in 34 highlighted by two opening birdies from close range. He enjoyed a late flourish with birdies on holes 14, 15, 17 and 18 to grab the outright lead.
“It is nice to start with two gimmie birdies. That gave me a lot of confidence,” said Perera, who holed 24 putts today. “I kept the ball in play and that’s the key to a good score here.”
The 28-year-old, who is the son to Nandasena, a famous name on the old Asian circuit during the 1980s and 1990s, used his sharp-shooting game to his advantage at the tree-lined DGC course.
“I had a good round because my driver worked and I holed some good putts. I’ll try and keep to this rhythm in the next three rounds. I always have good confidence when I’m here because of my accuracy,” said Perera.
India’s Kumar launched his title bid by shooting six birdies to build on his good form after finishing tied second at the Macao Open three weeks ago.
“I got off to a good start with three straight birdies and that gave me some momentum. I made some good putts and could have holed a few more. It was nice to finish with a 10-foot birdie on the last hole. Actually all the birdies were good,” laughed Kumar.
The 31-year-old Sattaya, who played without a driver in his golf bag, fired his best score at DGC but he was disappointed not to take a share of the lead after missing a close range birdie putt on the last hole.
“I like this golf course but I always did badly here. I’ve missed many cuts here. I tried to find a way on how to play better here and I took my driver out of the bag this week. I use a two-iron for my tee shots. I have no complaints with my score today except that poor birdie attempt on 18,” said Sattaya.
Popular Bangladeshi Siddikur was even par at the turn but four birdies on his homeward nine including a curling birdie on 18 kept him within striking distance of his close friend Perera.
“It wasn’t a bad start! I enjoyed my day. The fairways are soft so it is playing slightly longer but I made some good putts and that helped. It is nice to see Mithun leading. I think all the accurate players will do well here,” said Siddikur, a two-time Asian Tour winner.
Scores after round 1 of the Panasonic Open India 2015 being played at the par 72, 6983 Yards Delhi GC course (am – denotes amateur):
66 – Mithun PERERA (SRI).
67 – Chiragh KUMAR (IND), Sattaya SUPUPRAMAI (THA).
68 – Thitiphun CHUAYPRAKONG (THA), N. THANGARAJA (SRI), Siddikur RAHMAN (BAN), Thaworn WIRATCHANT (THA), Abhijit CHADHA (IND).
69 – Anura ROHANA (SRI), Niall TURNER (IRL), Chikka S. (IND), Shankar DAS (IND), Jyoti RANDHAWA (IND), K. PRABAGARAN (SRI), Khalin JOSHI (IND), George GANDRANATA (INA).
70 – Deepinder Singh KULLAR (IND), Mukesh KUMAR (IND), James BYRNE (SCO), Shubhankar SHARMA (IND), Rahil GANGJEE (IND), C. MUNIYAPPA (IND), Sanjay KUMAR (IND), Arnond VONGVANIJ (THA), Pawin INGKHAPRADIT (THA).
71 – Zamal MOLLAH (BAN), Abhishek JHA (IND), Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND), Namchok TANTIPOKHAKUL (THA), Niall KEARNEY (IRL), Vikrant CHOPRA (IND), Sujjan SINGH (IND), Amardip MALIK (IND), Digvijay SINGH (IND), Rashid KHAN (IND), Om Prakash CHOUHAN (IND), Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE).
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- anand datla
- mithun perera
- Panasonic Open India
