PANCHKULA, Nov 9: Chandigarh golfer Aadil Bedi set the early pace with a flawless seven-under-65 in the first round of the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020 here on Monday.
Karandeep Kochhar, also from Chandigarh, Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat and Kolkata’s Divyanshu Bajaj were all in tied second place having returned matching scores of six-under-66 at the Panchkula Golf Club.
The tournament has a unique format as it is being played across two venues in close proximity — Chandigarh Golf Club and Panchkula Golf Club. One half of the field will play their first round at Chandigarh while the other half will play their first round at Panchkula.
In round two, both the halves of the field will switch venues. The third and fourth rounds will be played at Chandigarh.
Nineteen-year-old Bedi, who won the PGTI event just prior to the coronavirus-forced lockdown in March, enjoyed a good day with the putter in his home conditions on Monday. Among his seven birdies, five were conversions from a range of 15 to 40 feet.
Bedi, who took a share of 12th place in Panchkula last week, also made two quality up and downs, one for birdie on the second and the other for par from 30 yards on the ninth.
Kochhar, Ahlawat and Bajaj’s scores of 66 accounted for the best effort in Panchkula on day one.
Kochhar, the runner-up last week, seemed to continue from where he left on Saturday.
Kochhar, who shot a bogey-free 67 in the final round here on Saturday, carded an error-free 66 at the same venue on Monday.
The 21-year-old’s birdies included a 25 feet conversion on the third, a magnificent approach from 145 yards on the eighth that landed inside two feet of the pin and a terrific drive on the par-4 11th that found the green.
Karnal’s Mani Ram was in fifth place with a 67 while six players shared the sixth spot with scores of 68, including defending champion Rashid Khan of Delhi and Chandigarh’s Amrit Lal.
Among those in tied 12th with identical scores of 69 were PGTI Order of Merit leader Udayan Mane of Pune, Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa and last week’s winner Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh.
Bengaluru golgers Chikkarangppa and Khalin Joshi were both in tied 19th place with scores of 70. Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu and Patna’s Aman Raj were tied 37th at 72.
Indian star Jyoti Randhawa posted a 73 to be at tied 50th. (PTI)
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