Jakarta, Indonesia, 29-08-2019
Viraj Madappa shot a seven-under-65 to take the first round joint lead at the Bank BRI Indonesia Open
India’s Viraj Madappa restored his self-belief and powered his way to the top of the leaderboard with his opening seven-under-par 65 to share the first round lead with Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat at the Asian Tour's Bank BRI Indonesia Open on Thursday.
Madappa together with Itthipat, held a one-shot advantage over Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto, Indonesian amateur, Naraajie Emerald Ramadhan Putra and India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu after the trio returned with matching 66s.
Viraj, who became the youngest Indian, at the age of 20 years and nine months, to win on the Asian Tour at the TAKE Solutions Masters last August, is now searching for his second Asian Tour win.
Madappa said, "It has been a while since I felt happy with the way I played. I’ve been playing well but just not able to put together four good rounds. So it’s really satisfying to be able to post a good score for a start today. I’ve been playing well but just not able to believe in myself. I’ve not been mentally disciplined enough and I was not trusting the shots I knew I could hit. But I’ve been working on that for a couple of weeks now and it’s good to see the results today."
Ajeetesh Sandhu, who also enjoyed a good start with his 66, said, "This round has given me much confidence going into the week although I wished I could have played the par-five a little bit. But overall it has been good. We had a bit of a break but I’ve been practicing hard and it’s showing in my game today. I hope there’s less wind tomorrow so that I can attack the pins."
Aman Raj, who shot a 67, was tied sixth while the Indian trio of Shiv Kapur, Rashid Khan and Chikkarangappa, were all in tied 12th with scores of 68.
Source: Asian Tour
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