Miaoli, Chinese Taipei, 27-04-2017
Chikkarangappa returns opening round 69 for a share of second place at Yeangder Heritage
India’s Chikkarangappa S returned an opening round of three-under-69 to lie tied second and one off the lead at the Yeangder Heritage on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Chikka trailed the leader Jake Higginbottom of Australia by one stroke. The Indian shared the second spot with Danthai Boonma of Thailand, Sung Mao-chang of Chinese Taipei and 18-year-old Sangpil Yoon of Korea at the US$300,000 Asian Tour event.
Chikka, a two-time Asian Development Tour winner, who is searching for a first win on the Asian Tour, struggled in the cold weather early in the round but three birdies on his homeward nine lifted him to a share of second place.
Chikka, who enjoyed his best season on the Asian Tour in 2016, thanks to four top-10s, said, “Looking at the weather, I’m quite surprised I shot a 69. I had a great day. I putted well and made sure I didn’t make any mistakes.
“When we played the practice rounds it was bright and sunny but today two layers were not good enough. To be honest, I was laughing at myself because I missed two 2-feet putts. I was standing over the ball and the wind really blew at me and I pulled my putts.
“I haven’t had a great start yet. I’ve made some changes and obviously things are not falling into place yet. It is getting better and I’m getting more confident. I’m sure there is a solid week coming up.
“I have great memories on this golf course. I went 65 holes without any bogeys but I lost the tournament because of a bad finish. I want to make sure that I don’t make those mistakes again this week.”
Shiv Kapur was the next best Indian in tied 10th after his round of one-under-71 while Khalin Joshi lying tied 17th at even-par-72 made it three Indians in the top-20.
Among the other Indians in the field, Chiragh Kumar (73) was tied 34th, Rahil Gangjee (75) and Rashid Khan (75) were both in tied 63rd, Shubhankar Sharma (76) and Himmat Rai (76) were both in tied 83rd, Sujjan Singh (79) and Arjun Prasad (79) were both in tied 122nd and Honey Baisoya (82) was tied 140th.
At the European Tour’s Volvo China Open, SSP Chawrasia occupied tied 41st place at one-under-71 while Jeev Milkha Singh was tied 74th at one-over-73.
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