Singapore, Oct 6 (PTI) India’s Karandeep Kochhar opened his campaign with a solid four-under 68 at the USD 2 million International Series Singapore to lie inside the Top-10 at tied eighth place here on Friday.
It put him four shots behind David Puig, who has six top-15 finishes in just nine starts since he joined the Tour. He carded a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 at the Tampines Course on a hot and humid day.
Chinese-Taipei’s Chang Wei-lun and Thais Rattanon Wannasrichan and Itthipat Buranatanyarat returned 67s at Tanah Merah Country Club.
Among other Indians, Viraj Madappa and Veer Ahlawat shot 2-under 70 each to be Tied-26th, while S Chikkarangappa and Rashid Khan were T-64 after par rounds.
Late entrant Kartik Sharma (73) at T-83, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Honey Baisoya with 74 each at T-99, SSP Chawrasia (75) at T-115, Ajeetesh Sandhu (76) at T-122, Shiv Kapur (77) at T-134 were way behind.
Puig has consistently been in the running since turning professional in September last year, including in his last three appearances. He tied for fourth in the International Series England, ended equal 14th in the St Andrew Bay Championship, and came home in a tie for 11th in last month’s Shinhan Donghae Open.
In his very first event on the Asian Tour last year, the International Series Morocco he came home in third having been the overnight leader, and that set the tone for a consistent run of high-quality golf.
Chang is in-form at the moment – he tied for fifth in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters last week – despite carrying an injury.
Asian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) and International Series OOM leader Andy Ogletree from the United States came in with a 68, along with Japan’s Tomoharu Otsuki, Koreans Bio Kim, Meenwhee Kim and Taehee Lee, New Zealander Ben Campbell, and Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai, Suteepat Prateeptienchai and Atiruj Winaicharoenchai.
Source: PTI News
