Panchkula, Haryana, 24-09-2013

Honey Baisoya's splendid 64 makes him round one leader

Jaini, Datar, Chikkarangappa in tied second, Dinesh Kumar fires an ace

Honey Baisoya of Delhi shot a splendid eight-under-64 to take the honours in round one of the PGTI Players Championship presented by Panchkula Golf Club. Delhi's Manav Jaini, Rajiv Datar of Pune and Chikkarangappa S of Bangalore were two strokes behind the leader in joint second place.

Honey Baisoya, playing his first season as a professional, made a dream start to the week with an amazing run of nine birdies against a lone bogey on Tuesday. The extremely talented 17-year-old birdied the first hole with a seven-feet conversion and followed that up with an astounding 30-feet birdie putt on the sixth. Baisoya suffered a minor blip as he bogeyed the seventh.

The rookie golfer recovered well after a poor second shot on the eighth to make birdie from 15 feet. Things just got better from there on as he landed it within six feet for birdies on the ninth and 10^th before driving the green on the 11^th to set up his fourth successive birdie. His eagle putt lipped out on the 11^th. Three more conversions from six to 10 feet helped him pick up birdies on the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th.

Baisoya, who so far has one top-10 on the PGTI, said, “I was hitting it straight and that gave me a lot of confidence. I didn't miss any chances on the greens as well. I had a tremendous run of four successive birdies on the eighth, ninth, 10^th and 11^th that spurred me on further. I also had some good chip-putts today. This is the ideal start to the week as I've not had a great season on the main tour so far and would like to change that. My two top-3 finishes on the Feeder Tour this year have lifted my confidence.”

Manav Jaini stitched together a fantastic bogey-free round to be placed joint second at six-under-66. He made a 15-footer for birdie on the seventh and narrowly missed two eagle opportunities on the 10^th and 11^th. Jaini's shot from 90 yards out stopped at the lip of the hole on the 10^th and his chip from the edge of the green lipped out on the 11^th.   

Jaini, a winner on the PGTI this year, said, “My iron-play was good today, unlike last week when I was struggling with the irons. My hitting was consistent as I kept it in play and made 16 regulations. Saving par was not a problem at any stage today. I was just a little disappointed that I missed some easy birdie opportunities on the last four holes. I couldn't convert birdie putts from 10 feet on the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th and also missed out from three feet on the 18^th.”

He added, “With some of the holes having been re-laid, the course has become more challenging and interesting. The course rewards good placement off the tee and that suits my game.”

Chikkarangappa made seven birdies against a bogey in his opening round to be in joint second place. He excelled from a range of 15 to 20 feet on the greens and hit an outstanding bunker shot on the 11^th to set up a birdie.

“The Panchkula Golf Club course is quite similar to my home course Eagleton and that has added to my comfort level here. Both courses have slopes and require good placement off the tee. I'm therefore more aggressive with my tee shots here just like I am at Eagleton,” said Chikkarangappa.

He went on to add, “I had a good top-10 finish at Chandigarh last week with a solid final round performance that included an eagle on the 16^th. I've had some momentum going since then.”

Rajiv Datar also had seven birdies and a bogey on day one as he joined Jaini and Chikka in tied second position. Datar hit 17 greens in regulation, made two birdie putts from 15 feet and landed his tee shot within two feet for a tap-in birdie on the 17^th.

Datar said, “I haven't played too much this year as I have been recovering from a knee injury that I suffered in the first half of the season. I'm quite pleased with my first round effort as it will help me get back in the groove. I putted well today and made a great par-save on the first hole where I missed the fairway but converted a 20-feet par putt.”

Chandigarh golfer Sujjan Singh, Noida's Rahul Bajaj and Shankar Das of Kolkata are in tied fifth place with matching scores of five-under-67. 

Delhi's Dinesh Kumar made a hole-in-one on the second hole during his round of one-under-71 that placed him tied 29^th.