Panchkula, Oct 4 (Golf News) Bangladesh golfer Jamal Hossain dominated the first round of the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship, carding an impressive seven-under 65 to lead round one at the Panchkula Golf Club here on Tuesday.
Trailing Jamal by a stroke was Delhi golfer Harshjeet Singh Sethie at six-under 66, while another Bangladeshi golfer Badal Hossain was behind Jamal by two shots to be placed at the third spot with a score of five-under 67.
Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Panchkula-based amateur golfer Brijesh Kumar carded identical totals of four-under 68 to be tied at the fourth place at the Rs 50 lakh event.
The other five players also bunched in tied fourth were Om Prakash Chouhan, Arjun Sharma, Sandeep Singh, Jay Pandya and Sri Lankan Anura Rohana.
Jamal Hossain’s round consisted of six birdies, an eagle through a chip-in on the fifth hole and a lone bogey. He also chipped-in for birdie on the 13th.
The standout feature of Jamal’s exceptional round was his driving and his chipping as he set up birdie putts within four feet on three occasions, while also managing a massive 15-footer birdie putt on the 18th hole.
“My driving has been my strength all season but with my second shots and putting also clicking today, I was expecting a good score. This year I have focused on my driving and I am happy to see it yield results,” Jamal said.
Harshjeet began his day with a birdie on the 10th but then dropped a double bogey on the 12th where he hit it out of bounds. However, he came back well with a tap-in birdie on the 14th and two long birdie conversions on the 16th and 18th.
His front-nine was all about his short-game as he made a chip-in on the fourth and three other chip-putts for birdies.
Rashid Khan, who just returned from Taiwan after narrowly missing out on the winner’s cheque in a nail-biting play-off finish on the Asian Tour, struck a first round of 69 to be tied 11th.
Among the other top names, PGTI Order of Merit leader Ajeetesh Sandhu was tied 23rd at 70, Olympian Udayan Mane was tied 33rd at 71 while defending champion Chikkarangappa S was tied 50th at 72.
Also Read : Rashid slips to 73, but still shares lead in Taiwan Masters
News Source : PTI
