Pune Open Golf: Kapil Kumar takes lead after first round

Pune Open Golf: Kapil Kumar takes lead after first round (Image Source: Google)

Delhi's Kapil Kumar emerged as the leader at the end of the first day of the Pune Open Golf Championship, carding a seven-under 59 at the Poona Club Golf Course here on Wednesday.

Heavy rains over the last few days resulted in waterlogging on some stretches at the Poona Club Golf Course. As a result, Hole No. 5 was reduced from a Par-4 to a Par-3 and Hole No. 6 was not played.

Therefore, 17 holes constituted round one and the par for the course in round one was 66 instead of the regular 71. There was a one and a half hour delay in the commencement of the round in the morning due to wet conditions as play began at 8:30 am, resulting in as many as 12 golfers out of a total of 126 not being able to finish round 1 today due to fading light.

Chandigarh's Angad Cheema is placed second with a score of six-under 60 while Mysore's Aalaap I L and Bengaluru's M Dharma are tied for the third spot with identical scores of five-under 61.

Kapil Kumar started the day from the first tee, under challenging weather conditions, meant business from the word go as he birdied the first, eighth and ninth holes before taking the turn. On his way back to the clubhouse, Kapil birdied the 10th, 12th, 14th and 18th holes to wrap up his first round error-free.

"I am happy with the way I played today. My putting was very good today, and I also hit the ball well. Given the heavy rains and weather conditions, my only agenda was to stick to basics and hit most fairways and greens. I am glad I could execute my strategy on the course. I played my wedges well too," said Kapil Kumar.

Angad Cheema began on a shaky note on the other hand, bogeying the first hole. Angad however came back strongly making birdies on the second, third and seventh holes before dropping a bogey on the ninth. Cheema then went all guns blazing on his back nine starting with an eagle on the 10th followed by three more birdies on the 12th, 15th and 18th.

As many as 10 golfers including the Sri Lankan trio of Mithun Perera, N Thangaraja and K Prabagaran along with Indian professionals Gaurav Pratap Singh, Om Prakash Chouhan, Aman Raj, Sagar Raghuvanshi, Mohd. Azhar, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Olympian Udayan Mane were tied at the fifth place with matching scores of four-under 62.