Aamby Valley City, Maharashtra: Rashid Khan set the Aamby Valley Golf Course alight with his own display of fireworks on Diwali day. The Delhi golfer shot an outstanding six-under-66 to lead the field in round one of the PGTI Players Championship presented by Aamby Valley City. Sudhir Sharma of Meerut was in second place with a round of 67.
Rashid Khan made merry in the opening round with as many as nine birdies against three bogeys. The 21-year-old started his round from the 10th and had a terrific first nine as he scored six consecutive birdies from the 11th through the 16th. He narrowly missed an eagle from 80 yards on the 12th as his third shot lipped out of the hole and gave him a one foot birdie putt. Rashid, a winner on the PGTI this season, landed the ball within five to seven feet for birdies on the 11th, 13th and 15th and converted a 15-footer for birdie on the 16th.
Rashid’s bogey on the 17th was negated by another splendid approach shot on the 18th that set up a two feet birdie putt for him. A 15-feet birdie putt followed on the fifth. He finally closed with bogey-bogey-birdie on the seventh, eighth and ninth.
“It’s been a fantastic day for me and an ideal start to the week. This is my first ever tournament at the Aamby Valley Golf Course and I really enjoyed myself out there. I had a dream start with six straight birdies. My iron-play was great and I did well with the wedges. I missed a couple of chip-putts to drop bogeys but closed the day with a good chip-putt for birdie on the ninth.
“It was a good day for scoring since there was no wind and I managed to capitalize on that. One needs to drive it well on this course in order to shoot good numbers,” said Rashid, currently ranked second on the 2012 Rolex Rankings.
Sudhir Sharma fired a five-under-67 to be placed second. His round featured six birdies and a bogey.
Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta, M Dharma of Bangalore, Australian Kunal Bhasin and Delhi-based Raj Randhawa are in joint third with matching scores of 68.
By Indian Sports News Network
