Patel, Chowrasia lead the pack on day one

Patel, Chowrasia lead the pack on day one
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MARCH 29: While the stars struggled to chip and putt on the opening day of the BPGC Open, Devendra Patel and Shiv Shankar Prasad Chourasia came up with good showing to share honours at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC) course, here, on Wednesday.

The Mhow-based Patel and Calcuttan Chowrasia shot 3-under 67 each on the par-70 course to lead the pack of professionals in the Rs. 5.5 lakh tournament of the Wills Indian Open Tour.

Local-pro Jagdish Angre and Chandigarh's Harmeet Kahlon were tied at the second spot with 2-under 68. Amritender Singh (Chandigarh) Chini Ali (Calcutta) shared the third spot with scores of 1-under 69.

Even as these players basked under the scorching sun, pre-tournament favourites Mukesh Kumar, Vijay Kumar and Feroz Ali had a forgettable day. Mukesh, who leads the race for Mahindra rankings, shot 3-over 73 and shared the 15th spot with Feroz. Vijay was still down the ladder returning a dismal card of 4-over 74 to be joint 23rd.

Most of the golfers seemed to be affected by the summer heat. However, Patel -- he finished sixth at the Eicher Central India Open in Mhow -- stayed focussed, unperturbed by the oppressive weather. He was 6-under after the 16th hole before blundering with a triple bogey on the par-3, 17th. The lanky golfer took only 22 putts to complete the round. His best was an eagle scored from the bunker on the par-5, 16th hole. Still as luck may have it, he was struck again in the bunker on the 17th and needed to three shots to come out for triple bogey.

Pleased with the performance he said, ``I was playing hot golf today. My hitting was very good and so was my putting. It was like a dream day till I got buried in the 17th bunker.''

The same score didn't make Chowrasia smile much as the 1999 Wills Indian Open runner-up expressed displeasure despite the 3-under card. ``The truth is, I am playing horrible golf at the moment and I just got lucky,'' said the Calcuttan. ``My short game is in a mess,'' referring to the fact of being well known for his prowess for which he is called as ``Chip-putt'' Chowrasia. He missed two chip-putts for pars and also three-putted on the third hole for three bogies which he tried to overcome with some precision iron play scoring six bogies including one on the first hole.

Kahlon, too, was unaffected by the heat. ``After playing in Thailand last week, this place feels like Shimla,'' said the 28-year old.

Leading the tally for Mahindra Rookie of the Year Award, Kahlon starting at the 10th tee made back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th to be 3-under with another on par-5 first. He then made successive bogies on the fifth and sixth holes before recovering on the seventh.

Making good of the first hand knowledge of the course, Jagdish Angre began with 11 successive pars before registering the first birdie. But he nullified the advantage with a bogie on the next. He, however, did well to finish 2-under with birdies on the 15th and 18th holes.

In the amateur section, Ratan Bali was the best with a tally of 5-over 75 followed by Jaideep Patwardhan on 7-over 77.

Scores (Day One): 3-under 67 -- Devendra Patel, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia; 2-under 68 -- Jagdish Angre, Harmeet Kahlon; 1-under 69 -- Amritender Singh, Chini Ali; par-70 -- Shiv Prakash, Digvijay Singh, Basad Ali, Ali Sher; 1-over 71 -- Vishal Singh, Rohtas Singh, Akbar Ali, 2-over 72 -- Gurki Shergil; 3-over 73 -- Babu Ahmed, Feroz Ali, Gast Ram, Pappan, Mukesh Kumar, Prakash Kubde, Rafiq Ali, Vivek Bhandari.

Amateurs: 5-over 75 -- Ratan Bali, Jaideep Patwardhan. 7-over 77 -- Rohit Goyal; 8-over 78 -- Shubhshankar Sen, Rajiv Datar.