Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar made light of the short course, “tricky” greens and narrow fairways to shoot a seven-under 65 and lead the field on the opening day of the Impiger Technologies-Chennai Open golf tournament at the Cosmo-TNGF course here on Tuesday.
N. Thangaraja of Sri Lanka was placed second at six-under 66 while last week’s winner in Coimbatore, Khalin Joshi of Bengaluru was placed third at 67. Arjun Sharma, who finished second in Coimbatore, struck a hole-in-one on the sixth during his round of 69 that saw him finish tied ninth.
It was the last minute decision of Karandeep to play here. Due to visa related issues he couldn’t take part in the Asian tour event in South Korea.
The 23-year-old struck four straight birdies from the second nine thanks to some solid hitting. Initially, Karandeep, the four-time PGTI champion, struggled with his putting, but a 15-feet birdie on the ninth hole strengthened his resolve. He added three more birdies and a bogey on the back-nine including two conversions from a distance of around 20 feet.
“It is a great course and is in great condition. My putting was not great to start with but got better. I had to withdraw my entry due to visa related issues. PGTI was kind enough to accommodate me,” Kochhar told The Hindu.
Thangaraja said the greens were tricky and the key is to find the “right lines.”
The results: 1. Karandeep Kochhar 7 under 65; 2. N. Thangaraja (SL) 6 under 66; 3. Khalin Joshi 5 under 67; 4. Mohd. Azhar; Sukra Bahadur Rai; Kartik Sharma, Manu Gandas, Ranjit Singh (all 4 under 68).
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