Shiv Kapur slumps to 76 in Portugal

Report by Anand Datla

October 09, 2014: Shiv Kapur suffered a nightmarish start in the Portugal Masters, suffering a first round 76 at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club. The Indian went from bad to worse on a miserable trip through the front nine where he surrendered seven strokes as he stumbled past the turn in 42 shots. The only other Indian at the event is Jeev Milkha Singh, who has made just eight cuts this season in twenty one events. He was midway through his round at one over through ten holes, having started his tournament at the ninth tee. The early leader was Scott Jamieson, who shot an impressive eight under 63 to enjoy the action from a comfortable perch inside the clubhouse even as the rest of the field chased his mark.

Kapur was struggling to keep the ball on the straight and narrow and his errant ways caught up with him at the third hole where he made his first bogey of the day. Another followed at the 5th hole, but as if to add insult to injury, he was traumatised by a quadruple bogey eight at the seventh hole. The scars deepened when he added another bogey at the ninth just before limping on to the back nine.

Credit though for the Indian, who recovered from the mauling he received, with a good effort to recover some pride through the rest of his round. Kapur steadied himself with seven pars on the back nine and birdies at the 12th and 17th to salvage a modicum of decency for himself. But at five shots beyond par, Kapur will sleep a wounded man, knowing that it would take a mighty effort on Friday to keep himself afloat for the weekend.

Speaking of weekends, Milkha Singh has been spending most of his in recent times off the golf course, after a series of missed cuts. The Chandigarh golfer started his campaign on the back nine and got off to a colourful start. Though he was buoyed by a birdie at the 11th hole, the 962nd ranked Indian was dragged down by a double bogey at the very next hole. A bogey at the 16th and a birdie on the next hole meant that Singh made the turn to the first tee at one over for the round. At the time of posting this report, Singh was still one over through the second hole, with seven to go.

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