March 14, 2017: Tour veteran Simarjeet Singh rolled back the years at the prestigious Delhi Golf Club here in the capital as he took the first round lead at The Delhi NCR Cup 2017 after carding a marvelous three-under 69.
Taking inspiration from his uncle SSP Chawrasia’s successful defense of the Indian Open, Sunit Chowrasia is part of a quartet of amateurs who are locked at even-par 72. Dhruv Sheoran, who won the PGTI Q-School earlier this year but chose to retain his amateur status, along with Giriraj Singh Khadka and Zubin Nijhawan share the second spot with the newest Chowrasia on the scene.
Defending champion Yashas Chandra shrugged off his disappointment of the Open as he stayed within touching distance after carding one-over par 73 tied in sixth place with Amir Khan and local lad Aniket Sawant.
Straight off the 1st tee, Noida based Simarjeet was in control with back-to-back opening birdies. On the third he temporarily lost focus as he carded a bogey 5 but regained his will with further birdies on the 8th and the 11th holes to put some distance between him and the chasing pack.
“I just found my rhythm today and hit the ball clean from the off” said the leader. He added, “After miss in Pune, I’m hoping to see it through this week.”
In the Delhi State Championship, Aniket Sawant leads Kshitij Naved Kaul and Saarthak Chhibber by one stroke followed by Vinay Kumar Yadav in fourth place at 76.
Top Scores:
69 Simarjeet Singh
72 Sunit Chowrasia, Dhruv Sheoran, Giriraj Singh Khadka, Zubin Nijhawan
73 Yashas Chandra, Amir Khan, Aniket Sawant
74 Kshitij Naved Kaul, Saarthak Chhibber, Pukhraj Singh Gill, Amrit Lal, Shravan Desai, Hemant yadav, Harimohan Singh
75 Keshav Mishra
