BANGALORE, Sep 30: Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad, Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu, Sri Lankan N Thangaraja and Bangladeshi Md Zamal Hossain Mollah ended day one of the PGTI Eagleburg Masters 2014, the fourth Super Series event of the season, as the joint leaders at six-under-66 here today.
The leading quartet are two shots ahead of a chasing pack of seven golfers that consists of local favourites Chikkarangappa and Khalin Joshi as well as reigning Rolex Rankings champion Rashid Khan.
Lohan, who is recovering from an injury in his right elbow, stitched together three successive birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth to get off to a solid start. He drained a 25-footer on the sixth.
The 24-year-old with five top-10s to his credit on the PGTI this year, then capitalized on the par-5s, the 10th and 15th and landed a good tee shot on the 12th to pick up three more strokes on the back-nine and end up with a bogey-free round.
Lohan said, “I’m delighted with the round as I could hardly get in any practice at Eagleton despite arriving here last week. I played one round last Friday during which I aggravated my elbow injury and thus took a break on the weekend.
“I also did not play the full practice round on Monday. I played percentage golf and set up some crucial birdie putts early on thanks to my hitting. The consecutive birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth gave me the momentum.”
Ajeetesh Sandhu, who also incidentally recently recovered from a hip injury, was also joint first after a round that featured seven birdies and a bogey. His three conversions from 10 to 15 feet and a chip that landed within a foot gave him his four birdies on the back-nine. The bogey on the second was a minor blip as the 25-year-old, a winner on the PGTI, collected three more birdies on the front-nine courtesy some accurate hitting. (PTI)
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