Lucknow, 16-09-2014
Flawless opening rounds of 66 place Arshpreet Thind and Bhanu Pratap Singh on top
Gurgaon-based Arshpreet Thind and Delhi’s Bhanu Pratap Singh produced flawless rounds of six-under-66 to set the pace in the opening round of the Ansal API Feeder Tour Championship presented by The Palms Golf Club – Sushant Golf City. Indore’s Aditya Singh Chauhan and Delhi golfer Amarjeet Baisoya were two shots off the lead in tied third place.
The burly Arshpreet Thind had a solid start to the final event of the 2014 Feeder Tour season as he picked up two strokes on the first three holes. The 31-year-old, currently ranked 36th on the Feeder Tour Order of Merit, added another birdie on the seventh and came up with a hat-trick of birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th to end up with a bogey-free 66.
Thind said, “I hit it close all day and didn’t leave myself anything longer than 10 feet on the greens. I capitalized well on the par-5s, making birdies on three out of four par-5s. I’m quite happy with the effort as I hadn’t played for about two months during the middle of the year due to personal reasons. I was therefore a little rusty and short of practice. This round has set me up well for the remaining two days.”
Bhanu Pratap Singh also posted a bogey-free 66. Some great hitting saw him land birdies on the first, seventh and eighth. He drove the green on the 11th and 17th, both par-4s, and reaped the reward with birdies. The 23-year-old’s longest putt of the day was the birdie conversion from 12 feet on the 12th.
“I was good off the tee today. I created quite a few eagle opportunities, however had to be content with birdies on all those occasions. My eagle putt lipped out on the 11th. I’ve played well in the last three Feeder Tour events as my putting has improved with each passing event. It’s great to start with such a low score. I’ll look to repeat this performance in the next two rounds,” said Bhanu, currently placed 26th in the Feeder Tour.
Amarjeet Baisoya produced four birdies and shared third place with Aditya Singh Chauhan who made five birdies and a bogey on day one.
Delhi golfers Karan Vasudeva and Gulfam occupied joint fifth at three-under-69.
Among the professionals from Lucknow, Sanjeev Kumar, Sheeraz Kalra and Rishi, were the highest placed at tied 12th. The Lucknow trio returned scores of one-under-71 along with four other players.
Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh, the Feeder Tour Order of Merit leader, was in tied 19th place at even-par-72.
The tournament is also supported by associate sponsors Tulsiani Group, Nilansh Group, Wealth Mantra, SCJ Developers and Mahindra RISE.
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