Hyderabad: The Golconda Masters Golf Championship 2015, the first ever men’s professional event to be staged in Hyderabad, got off to a cracking start at the Hyderabad Golf Club, as K Prabagaran of Sri Lanka fired a sublime eight-under-62 to sit atop the leaderboard. Anura Rohana, another Sri Lankan, occupied joint second place along with Delhi’s Shamim Khan at seven-under-63 at the Rs. 40 lakh event.
K Prabagaran, a tournament winner on the PGTI last year, began the day with an early birdie on the 11th where he got out of trouble thanks to a good chip-putt. A bogey followed on the 13th as he three-putted. The 34-year-old picked up the pace as he holed putts from six to seven feet for birdies on the 14th, 15th and 18th.
Prabagaran, who hails from the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club in Sri Lanka, then turned on the heat with an unbelievable run of consecutive eagles on the fifth and sixth. He drove the green on both the par-4 holes before converting the putts from 20 feet and three feet respectively. Prabagaran ended the day with another birdie on the eighth courtesy a chip-putt from over the green.
“It was an outstanding round. My driving and approach shots were brilliant. I also got myself out of trouble on a couple of occasions after hitting it over the green. It’s the first time I’ve made two consecutive eagles. This round has really lifted my confidence for the rest of the week,” said Prabagaran, who finished 10th in the 2014 Rolex Rankings with a win and eight other top10 finishes.
He added, “One needs to be very accurate on certain stretches of this course which are narrow. The fourth in particular is a very challenging hole. There are times when you can’t see the fairways from the tees so judging the distance well is the key here. I had a good 2014 season on the PGTI which has done wonders to my confidence. I want to perform a few notches higher this year.”
Shamim Khan too enjoyed his outing in round one. He sank a 20-footer for eagle on the sixth and chipped-in for birdie on the 11th. He also landed it within three feet on three occasions to set up tap-in birdies.
Anura Rohana joined Khan in tied second as he came up with an eagle, seven birdies and two bogeys.
Ashbeer Saini of Kapurthala and Jamshedpur’s Karan Taunk shared the fourth spot at five-under-65. Saini had a terrific run of four straight birdies from the second to the fifth on Thursday.
Chikkarangappa of Bangalore and Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the reigning Rolex Rankings champion, were tied 12th at two-under-68.
Gaganjeet Bhullar occupied tied 26th position at even-par-70. Bhullar, who made double-bogey on the 17th and bogey on the third, came back well with an eagle-birdie finish, on the eighth and ninth.
