Jakarta, Indonesia, 06-10-2016
Bhullar continues hot streak, takes a share of the opening round lead at Indonesian Masters
Gaganjeet Bhullar of India continued his hot streak when he shared the opening round lead with Gunn Charoenkul of Thailand and Masahiro Kawamura of Japan at the BNI Indonesian Masters on Thursday.
Fresh from his win in Korea last week, Bhullar produced a flawless round of six-under-66 to be tied at the top alongside Kawamura and Gunn.
Arjun Atwal, a former Asian Tour number one and the first Indian to win on the PGA Tour, was a further shot back with Thai teenagers Phachara Khongwatmai and Suradit Yongcharoenchai at the US$750,000 event staged at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Indian Shiv Kapur, himself a former winner on the Asian Tour, was among 10 players bunched up in seventh place at four-under-68.
The 28-year-old Bhullar, who started from the 10th tee, overcame early nerves to make the turn in 32 before adding birdies on seven and nine to stay in contention for back-to-back victories.
“It was a bogey free round and at the end of the day, that’s the target. I’m trying to repeat what I did last week,” said Bhullar, a six-time Asian Tour winner.
“In the beginning I was a bit nervous. Coming straight after a victory, your mental aspect is slightly different. You try to go for a par and try not to attack the pins. I putted really well today especially on 12, 13 and 14 (birdies) and those were all from 10 or 15 feet which I holed,” he added.
Among the other Indians in the fray, Jeev Milkha Singh was tied 17th at three-under-69, while Khalin Joshi, Himmat Rai, Jyoti Randhawa and Chikkarangappa were a further shot back in tied 30th.
Abhijit Chadha was tied 51st with a score of 71, Chiragh Kumar and Abhinav Lohan were tied 62nd at 72, Shankar Das and Rahil Gangjee were tied 81st with scores of 73, while Anirban Lahiri was tied 113th at 75 and Shubhankar Sharma was tied 135th at 77.
Source: Asian Tour
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