Lucknow’s Sanjeev enjoys early lead
LUCKNOW: Last year’s runner-up and Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar along with former Asian Tour winner Digvijay Singh of Gurugram took the early lead at the CG Open 2018 as the duo posted scores of six-under-64 at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC) on a cool and windy day on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan Mithun Perera was placed third at five-under-65.
Sanjeev had seven birdies that came at the cost of a lone bogey. Sanjeev, who lost out to M Dharma in a playoff at the CG Open 2017, began the week with a birdie on the first. His confidence then soared with a 20-feet birdie conversion on the fifth.
He went on to make four more birdies from a range of 10 to 20 feet to sign for a 64. “I felt good from the very start as I birdied the first hole. It brought back memories of last year’s performance when I finished runner-up after a final round of six-under. The last round in Bengaluru last week just helped me get in rhythm as I shot a solid two-under there,” he said.
“I’m just feeling good about my game this week and am confident of a good finish. I’m quite certain that this time around I won’t repeat the mistakes I committed last time,” he added.
Digvijay Singh, also joined Sanjeev with a 10th tee starter on Wednesday. He came up with a flawless 64 reaping the rewards of working on his putting with fellow professional Gurki Shergill. The seasoned Digvijay, who won an Asian Tour event in India in 2012, made three birdies each on his back-nine and front-nine to hold the advantage on day one.
“I’ll give credit to my friend Gurki Shergill who helped me with my putting stroke. I’ve been all over the place with my putting over the last few weeks. But Gurki and me worked on something that clicked for me today,” said Digvijay.
“Leading up to this event, I was not even coming close to the hole when the putts were within a range of 15 to 20 feet. But today I was shaving most of the holes.”
“I had a tremendous recovery for par on the closing ninth. I thought it would be great to finish with a birdie so I got a little ahead of myself at that stage and landed my tee shot in the trees. Luckily, I had a swing there and managed to pull off a brilliant second shot that landed on the edge and helped me salvage the situation,” he added.
Mithun Perera mixed seven birdies with two bogeys for his 65 while N Thangaraja, another Sri Lankan, sank back to back eagles on the 18th and first en route his round of 66 that placed him joint fourth. Thangaraja chipped-in on the first.
Mysuru’s Yashas Chandra and Australian Kunal Bhasin also took a share of fourth at 66.
Among the Mumbai-based professionals, Akash Modi shot the best score of 71 to be tied 32nd. Aakash Bamne and Wilson Raj D’Mello were a further shot back in tied 47th. Anil Bajrang Mane was placed tied 65th at 73. Mumbai amateur Ahaan Nath struck a 74 to be tied 86th.