Key Points

Five players were tied in fourth place at scores of five-under 65 at the Par-70 course which is playing host to a PGTI event after 15 years. The chasing pack at 65 included Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu, who made birdies on his last four holes, as well as Karandeep Kochhar, another Chandigarh golfer, along with Bangladesh’s Badal Hossain, Delhi’s Kapil Kumar and Kolkata’s Shankar Das.

Twenty-eight-year-old Pukhraj Singh Gill, who was also the first-round leader at last week’s PGTI event in Ahmedabad, didn’t have the best of starts on Tuesday after he made an early bogey on the 12th. However, Gill came back strong with birdies on the 15th and 16th to make the turn at one-under.

Pukhraj, searching for his maiden title, then added five more birdies on the front-nine thanks to his great driving, accurate pitching and extremely consistent short to mid distance putting.

Pukhraj said, “I’m playing a professional event here at Qutab Golf Course for the first time and the last time I played here was about 15 years back, I was a junior. The course has changed a lot since then and poses a lot more challenges now. The fairways are narrow and it’s a risk-reward course where there is a premium on good course management.

“I did really well on the short Par-4s today thanks to my good drives and pitches as well as my putting especially from a range of five to 10 feet. I feel, the learning from my previous experiences after I’ve made a good start has been to not try too hard. The more I lead, the more familiar I get with how to handle such situations.”

Honey Baisoya and Tapendra Ghai, both of whom hail from the DLF Golf & Country Club, were co-leaders with Pukhraj on day one. While Honey had a bogey-free round, Tapendra signed for eight birdies and two bogeys.

Honey made two birdie conversions from a range of 12 to 15 feet but also missed out on two eagle opportunities from a distance of 10 feet. The highlight of his round though was a great par-save from 15 feet on the 17th where he had found trouble with his first two shots.

Chandigarh-based 15-year-old amateur Neil Jolly shot a 68 to be the highest-placed among the amateurs as he was tied 23rd.

Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya, the winner in Ahmedabad last week, who is also currently placed second on the PGTI Order of Merit, returned a 73 to be tied 95th.

- IANS