June 26, 2014. Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri made Cologne seem like home with an assured round of golf to begin their campaign at the BMW International Open.
Lahiri, who is the best performing Indian golfer this year, made a 4-under 68. A little later in the day Bhullar outshone his compatriot to make 67 and sneak into the top 10.
Lahiri got off to mixed start, following a birdie on the 10th with a bogey on the next. But that was to be the only hiccup on the day. A birdie on the 15th helped him break par and three more – including back to back birdies on the 6th & 7th – on the back nine helped the Indian complete a satisfying day.
Bhullar mad an eagle and five birdies to gain seven strokes from the course, but he gave one shot each at the 3rd and 10th to settle for a 67. Jeev Milkha Singh had a round of two halves – four birdies between 10 and 18 offset three bogeys on the other half. Eventually, Milkha Singh had to remain content with 71.
A double bogey at the first and a couple of other bogeys deep inside the round tarnished Shiv Kapur’s round. Kapur is 1-over and could be at risk of missing the boat for the weekend unless he enjoys a relatively superior performance in the second round.
At the end of a low scoring round of golf, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Danny Willett were tied in the lead at 8-under 64. In fact the top ten golfers were all placed at 5-under or better. There are as many as seven men crowding the chart, just two strokes off the pace set by Cabrera-Bello and Willett.
Just three strokes off the leaders are a bunch of nine men at five under through the first 18 holes.
Here is a snapshot of how our golfers have done on the first day of the tournament
Reporting by Anand Datla
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