Amardip fires 62 to equal course record at Golconda Masters

HYDERABAD: Noida’s Amardip Malik fired a sparkling nine-under-62 to take the first round lead at the PGTI’s season-opening Golconda Masters Golf Championship here Wednesday.

In the process, Malik also equalled two-time Golconda Masters champion and good friend Ajeetesh Sandhu’s course record which the latter had set in 2016.

Patna’s Aman Raj, who recently qualified for the Asian Tour and Bengaluru’s M Dharma were both placed tied second thanks to their top-notch efforts of seven-under-64.

Amardip Malik, a two-time champion on the PGTI, had an action-packed day as he sank an incredible 12 birdies in exchange for a bogey and a double-bogey. The 33-year-old had a disastrous start to the tournament after he hit it out of bounds on the first hole to drop a double-bogey.

Thereafter, it was one-way traffic for Amardip barring a bogey on the fifth, as he not only staged a remarkable comeback but also finished with the best round of the day, courtesy his exceptional ball-striking and iron-play and consistent putting. He made birdies on all the four par-5s finding the green in two shots on three of them.

Malik made some quality chip-putts for birdies and missed out on a hole-in-one by a whisker on the seventh. His accurate approaches on a couple of holes set up birdie putts within five feet and he also drained three birdies from a range of 15 to 30 feet. Amardip followed up his three-under on the front-nine with an outstanding six-under on the back-nine. “This is probably the most satisfying round for me in about four years. Golfers usually complain about leaving out shots on the course. I felt I made up three to four shots today especially with the four consecutive birdies from the 14th to the 17th. “However, I was unlucky to miss out on a six-foot birdie conversion on the 18th that could’ve taken me to 10-under. But I couldn’t have asked for more. It was the second time that Amardip ended up with a score of nineunder at the HGC. At the inaugural 2015 edition of the tournament, he had shot a second round of nine-under-61 after recovering from a double-bogey.