Bhubaneshwar: Kolkata lad Raghu Bir Choudhary carded a fine 81 to take the opening day’s honours in the top category (A & B) of the Bhubaneshwar Junior/Sub-junior, the fifth leg of the nine-leg leg Tata Steel IGU East Zone Junior Tour being played at the Bhubaneshwar Golf Club here on Tuesday.

Yashvardhan Sarda was second with a 89 while Rohan Agarwal and Kunal Naidu shared the third spot at 90. Bishwan Ghosh was fifth.

Meanwhile Hashan Rahman emerged as the leader in Category C with a neatly compiled 82 while Devansh Chadha was second at 89. Bibek Sardar was third with Vir Singh Lamba in fourth position.

In Category D, it was Sandeep Yadav who led the field with Rajib Ali trailing him.
Raghu Bir beginning from the first met with mixed luck on his front nine as he opened with a bogey.

However with four pars in the next holes holes he did try to recover but a triple on the par-4 eighth seriously dented his scorecard.

Raghu Bir pulled up his socks and had a better back nine where he fired three birdies (10th, 16th and 18th) and three pars to return home as the first round leader. “I was playing really well. A bad drive on the eight cost me three shots,” said Raghu Bir, a class XI student of La Martiniare. “I will try and make as many pars as possible and if I can convert an occasional birdie, I think I stand a good chance to win the tournament,” added the leader. 

Top scores after 18 holes

Cat A & B

Raghu Bir Choudhary (Cat A) 81; Yashvardhan Sarda (Cat B) 89; Rohan Agarwal  (Cat  B) 90; Kunal Naidu (Cat B) 90; Bishwam Ghosh (Cat B) 93; Nishkarsh Sachdeva (Cat B) 94; Udayjit Bhalotia (Cat B) 96; Abhisek Abhijeet (Cat A) 97; Jung Yunwoo (Cat A) 98; Nihar Ranjan Mishra (Cat B) 110

Cat C

Hashan Rahman 82; Devansh Chadha 89; Bibek Sardar 94; Vir Singh Lamba 98; Manish Rajak 102; Rohil Chokhany 108

Cat D

Sandeep Yadav  95; Rajib Ali 103

By Indian Sports News Network