Gangjee's Epic 55-Foot Eagle Lifts India Hopes at DP World Championship

That shot ensured there were at least two Indians in the Top-10 at the end of the first day at the 4 million US Dollars golfing extravaganza. Gangjee, with a 5-under 67, was tied fourth, as the 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry reeled off five birdies in a row on the back nine to post an opening 64 and lead by one shot after the first round. Japan's Keita Nakajima (65) was second, as per a press release.

Earlier, Dhruv Sheoran shot 4-under 68 with four birdies and an eagle against two bogeys. His 68 gave him the Tied-seventh place. Yuvraj Sandhu, the current leader on the PGTI Order of Merit, carded 3-under 69 and is Tied-17th. Anirban Lahiri and Abhinav Lohan carded 2-under 70 each to be Tied-28th.

Among the big marquee names, Tommy Fleetwood, Brian Harman, Ben Griffin and Luke Donald, with 68 each, were T-7, Rory McIlroy (69) was T-17, and Viktor Hovland (71) was T-44. Shubhankar Sharma (74) finished with a bogey and was T-99, needing a good second round to make the cut, while Veer Ahlawat (73) was slightly better at T-82.

Nakajima, who won the Hero Indian Open in 2024, had led for much of the day after firing a seven-under-par 65 in the morning before afternoon starter Lowry leapfrogged him. He was one ahead of Casey Jarvis after the South African's sparkling 66.

Gangjee said, "Obviously, it is great to finish 5-under on the first round. The game has been okay last week, but before that, not so great. So I am really, really glad that it turned out the way it did today. My caddie and I were just out there trying to have some fun. I have been a little too serious with the game in the past eight months. Last week and this week have been fun. I guess it is the way to play golf."

"I have played this place (DGC) a thousand times, so I am not shocked the way I played. But having seen my results in the last eight months, I was not expecting it. Made some changes to my putting stroke, my putting grip. So I am glad it is working out," the veteran added.

As for his eagle on the 18th, he said, "I hit a great drive on the 18th and was in between clubs on the second shot, but decided to use an extra club to hit it past the flag because landing it short of the green would leave me with a difficult chip. Then, standing on the 55-footer for eagle, I thought of a similar putt that I made for eagle a couple of years ago here at DGC. It was on the same line but a little closer to the hole. So it's amazing what such thoughts can do."

Sandhu was delighted with his play and said, "I am really proud that I stayed disciplined off the tee and literally had a hot putter from 15. I had a clean card otherwise and I was patient throughout the round. You've just got to be patient, and it will pay you back."

"I just pulled out my driver on the 10th hole today. Wanted to pull out the driver on 18, but there was a ten-minute delay. But still ended up making a good four. That's the whole plan, just to make good numbers on a decent hole and just be patient."

Sheoran was thrilled to be part of this star-studded field, and remarked, "It is something I have dreamt a lot of times, watching Rory and Tommy on TV and thinking one day that I want to be playing next to them. It is a dream come true in a way. I could not sleep at night thinking that I'm going to be playing alongside them, so it is really surreal to be playing here."

Playing alongside Europe's victorious Ryder Cup Captain Donald and his team-mate Fleetwood, Lowry opened his birdie account at the par-three fifth before getting another from close range on the sixth. The Irishman made four pars before getting his next birdie from 12 feet at the 11th hole.

After sending his tee-shot at the short at 12th to ten feet and knocking in the putt, Lowry holed from a similar range on the 13th for a hat-trick of birdies.

He took advantage of the par-five 14th before rolling in from eight feet on the 15th to make it five in a row.

Lowry then managed to get up and down from just shy of the 18th green for another birdie to take the outright lead.

He said: "I putted nicely today. I played nice. Gave myself a lot of chances and then I birdied a few on the back nine, it was pretty nice.

"It was a really nice group, playing with Luke and Tommy. We all had a great time and played pretty well. I just rolled off a few more birdies than they did on the back nine.

"You know, 64 is a really nice score. It is not that hard when you hit it in play out there, but when you start missing fairways, it becomes quite tricky. I'm pretty happy with that. I feel like this type of golf course suits me. I spend half the year moaning about golf courses that are too wide, so when I get to somewhere like here, I need to take advantage of that, and I did that today, and hopefully I can keep doing that for the rest of the week," he concluded.

- ANI