Jakarta, Indonesia, 17-11-2016
Khalin Joshi sizzles with a 65 in round one of Indonesia Open, shares the clubhouse lead
Khalin Joshi of India, in pursuit of his Asian Tour card, had a sizzling start at the BANK BRI-JCB Indonesia Open as he shot a seven-under-65 to share the clubhouse lead in the weather-interrupted first round along with Chinnarat Phadungsil of Thailand.
Joshi is fighting to retain his playing rights for next year as he currently occupies 113th place on the Order of Merit. He must finish inside the top-65 by the end of the season to retain his Tour card.
The US$300,000 Asian Tour event was suspended for over two hours in the afternoon due to lightning threats before play was abandoned at 5.45 pm due to fading light. A total of 56 players will return on Friday at 6.15 am to complete their rounds at the Pondok Indah Golf Course.
Hung Chien-yao of Chinese Taipei, Korea’s Soonsang Hong, Sukree Othman of Malaysia and Jazon Knutzon of the United States, were in tied second at six-under-66.
The big-hitting Joshi is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his close friend and compatriot Shubhankar Sharma, who finished tied fourth in the Philippines on Sunday to retain his Tour card for the new 2017 season.
“I’ve been talking to Shubhankar (Sharma) and he has been a huge influence to me. He had a great week last week and I’m so happy for him. He told me to never give up because you never know what will happen until the last moment like what happened to him.
“I hope to follow in his footsteps and have one good week to keep my card. Once you’ve saved your card, it is a fantastic feeling because you are playing to win and trying to move higher in your career,” said the 24-year-old Joshi.
The Indian duo of Abhinav Lohan and Chiragh Kumar was in tied 29th position on the leaderboard at close of play as both were at two-under through 14 and 13 holes respectively.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, Jeev Milkha Singh and Himmat Rai posted first round scores of 71. The trio occupied tied 49th place.
Sujjan Singh was one-over through 14 holes and in tied 82nd place while Shubhankar Sharma returned a 74 to be tied 98th.
Chikkarangappa and Jyoti Randhawa were both two-over through 14 holes and as a result occupied tied 98th place.
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