Chouhan, Sisodia take Day One lead
Mhow golfer Om Prakash Chouhan and Delhi’s Shivendra Singh Sisodia shared the lead after the first round of the PGTI’s season opener, the Cial Cochin Masters in Kochi on Wednesday.
Chouhan and Sisodia fired four- under 68s in the ` 60 lakh event at the Cial Golf Club. They were a stroke ahead of Bengaluru’s C. Muniyappa and Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu.
Chouhan was off to a splendid start as he landed his approach within three feet on his opening hole, the 10th, for a relatively easy birdie. He then failed to recover from the bunker on the 14th and dropped a stroke.
The Madhya Pradesh lad produced a couple of good chip shots on the 16th and 18th, the latter for a chip- in, to make the turn at two- under.
Om Prakash faltered with a bogey on the second but came roaring back with birdies on the fourth, sixth and ninth holes.
“I’m glad to have started the season on a positive note. I enjoyed a good 2015 season as I was very consistent and finished inside the top- 10 of the Rolex Ranking. I worked very hard in the one month break between the two seasons to tune up my game further. Hopefully, all that hard work will be reflected in my scores in the coming months,” said the 29- year- old.
He added, “The course is playing tougher and longer this year and the professionals will have their work cut out. The rough and trees on either side of the fairways have grown and that will have an impact on the scores.”
Sisodia, who earned his full card after finishing 29th in the PGTI Qualifying School last month, made seven birdies against three bogeys.
“My good performance at the Q School this year has given me the much needed confidence for the 2016 season.”
Gurgaon- based Digvijay Singh, Feroz Ali Mollah of Kolkata, Meerut’s Sudhir Sharma and Delhi’s Kapil Kumar were joint fifth at two- under- 70.
Defending champion Mukesh Kumar of Mhow was tied 20th at one- over- 73.