Perth, Australia, 25-02-2016
Kapur off to a flying start in Perth, lies tied second after 66 on day one
India’s Shiv Kapur took the risk of going ahead with his title charge at the ISPS Handa Perth International by posting a first round six-under-66 to trail American leader Peter Uihlein by one shot on Thursday.
Uihlein held a slim advantage atop the leaderboard with his opening 65 as Kapur and France’s Romain Wattel stayed closely behind after their identical 66s left them in second place at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club.
Playing without any expectations, the Indian was pleased with his early results as a sprained shoulder had threatened to force him out of contention at the A$1.75 million event which is seeing the return of the best players from the Asian Tour to Australia after a seven-year absence.
“I wasn't even sure I was going to tee it up. I was really struggling on the driving range with my shoulder this morning.
“So sometimes you just drop that expectation, don't really think about a golf swing, just try to get it around and play one shot at a time. That old cliché in golf, it seemed to work pretty well today,” said Kapur.
The Indian injured himself while picking his luggage off the airport carousel in Singapore.
Although he is carrying an injury, Kapur prefers to see the lighter side of things especially with his promising start.
“It's funny how you go to the gym, play golf and do all these things so that you don't get injured. Then the simplest things happen when you travel,” said Kapur.
Kapur may be playing through the pain barrier with proper medication and treatment, but he did not show any nerves as he completed a sparkling round that was highlighted by six birdies.
“It was a big bonus not to have a blemish on the card. I think the key out here is to really eliminate the mistakes. The course does give you a lot of birdie opportunities, but you can be 50 or 60 yards on the green and still make a double-bogey.
“It's one of those courses where you just have to be on the correct side of the hole most of the time, and I think I managed to plot my way around that pretty well,” said Kapur.
Among the other Indians in the fray, SSP Chawrasia and Chiragh Kumar were both tied 33rd with scores of one-under-71, Arjun Atwal was a further two shots behind in tied 67th, Himmat Rai was tied 92nd at two-over-74 while Jeev Milkha Singh and Gaganjeet Bhullar took a share of 137th place with identical scores of five-over-77.
Source: Asian Tour
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