Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida, 13-02-2013
Navratna Ahmedabad, Silverglades Delhi share the spoils on day one of LP Cup
Randhawa, Bhullar and Perera set the Jaypee Green course ablaze with scores of 67
Holders Navratna Ahmedabad began their quest to retain the Louis Philippe Cup Inter-City Golf crown in style with an aggregate score of six-under-138 to be tied at the top with Silverglades Delhi at the Jaypee Greens Golf Resort in Greater Noida.
Navratna Ahmedabad, the reigning champions, rode on the scintillating five-under-67 from their Sri Lankan recruit Mithun Perera, who had a bogey-free round. Captain Vikrant Chopra and Vinod Kumar, the other two members of the team, shot scores of one-under to make a positive start to their campaign in this nine-team event.
Perera said, “Last year when we entered the Louis Philippe Cup, everybody wrote us off as we didn’t have any star golfer in our team but we went on to win the tournament. This year we are the only unchanged team in the competition and our team spirit is high. We are going to fire on all cylinders to win this one again.”
As per the tournament format, the aggregate of the two best performers out of three in each team is taken into consideration to decide the team score.
Silverglades Delhi were the joint leaders along with the Ahmedabad team at six-under-138. Delhi’s Shamim Khan and Rashid Khan posted scores of three-under-69 while their third player Himmat Singh Rai shot a five-over-77.
DLF Gurgaon is one stroke behind the joint leaders in third position. The seasoned Jyoti Randhawa finished the day with a five-under-67 for the Gurgaon team. He made six birdies and a bogey on the opening day. Randhawa’s team-mates Digvijay Singh and Abhinav Lohan fired scores of even-par-72.
Hosts Jaypee Greens Greater Noida, a new entrant to the tournament, gave a good account of themselves in round one as they were placed fourth with an aggregate of 140. Four-time Asian Tour winner Gaganjeet Bhullar was their top performer with a round of 67.
The 24-year-old, who had an outstanding 2012 Asian Tour season, excelled on the front nine scoring three birdies and an eagle on the second hole before a bogey on the eighth pegged him and his team back. Sanjay Kumar (72) and R Murthy (73) provided Bhullar the support he needed to keep the team in contention.
The Jeev Milkha Singh-led Shubhkamna Noida team had a slow start to the event. The Noida team was placed tied seventh with a total of one-under-143.
“We have tomorrow’s round to turn around the fortunes of the team and I am sure we will raise our game in round two,” said Jeev Milkha Singh at the end of round one.
Scores:
138 - Navratna Ahmedabad, Silverglades Delhi
139 - DLF Gurgaon
140 - Jaypee Greens Greater Noida
141 - AVT Kolkata
142 - Puravankara Bangalore
143 - Shubhkamna Noida, TAKE Chennai
147 - Dev Ellora Chandigarh
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