E-Paper
Day 1 of TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020: With eight-under, Chandigarh’s Akshay shines bright
The tournament, which is being played across two venues at Panchkula Golf Club and Chandigarh Golf Club, has a unique format
Chandigarh golfer Akshay Sharma, who played his last professional tour in February before the pandemic halted the competitive sporting activities in March, was on fire on Day 1 of the resumption of the country’s professional golf circuit during the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020 at Panchkula Golf Club on Wednesday.
Akshay flawlessly finished first in the first round of the four-day event, with a card of eight-under-64. He was followed by Asian Tour regular Chikkarangappa of Bengaluru at six-under-66.
The tournament, which is being played across two venues at Panchkula Golf Club and Chandigarh Golf Club, has a unique format: One half of the field will play their first round at Panchkula while the other half will play their first round at Chandigarh. In round two, both the halves of the field will switch venues. The third and fourth rounds will only be played at Panchkula.
“This was my first competition after almost eight months, but I was fully prepared for the competitive circuit as I was regularly playing pro-pool rounds with fellow professionals these past few months. I am very happy that I played as per my expectations,” said 30-year-old Akshay.
“From the beginning, I was quite accurate as I found all fairways and made 17 greens in regulation. Throughout the round I was enjoying my game and by the time I finished the first-nine, I knew I was going to wrap up today’s round with a great score.
“Playing at Panchkula was the bigger challenge for me as Chandigarh is my home course. I didn’t expect to go so low here, so this score is like a bonus for me as I’m confident of doing well in Chandigarh tomorrow,” Akshay added.
Day’s best score recorded at Chandigarh Golf Club
The two leading scores of the day came from the Panchkula Golf Club, while Kolkata’s Sunit Chowrasia recorded the day’s best score at Chandigarh Golf Club of five-under-67, to occupy the third place. Another Chandigarh golfer Karandeep Kochhar shot a 68 at the Chandigarh club to be tied fourth along with Gurugram’s Manu Gandas.
Former winner on the PGTI in 2018, Akshay was delighted to get off the blocks with an error-free round. His good placement on the fairways and greens at Panchkula set up five birdie putts within a range of three to four feet for him, which he went on to convert. He also sank three long birdie putts of 12 to 15 feet.
Chikkarangappa, a 13-time winner on the PGTI, also got off to a splendid start on Wednesday, but had a contrasting round as compared to Akshay’s. Chikka sank nine birdies in exchange for three bogeys in a round where he made some tremendous recoveries after finding the hazard or the trees on at least four occasions. He also performed well with the putter draining four birdies from a range of 12 to 15 feet.
Chandigarh’s Aadil Bedi and Patna’s Aman Raj were tied sixth with scores of 69; Delhi-based Rashid Khan, 70, was tied 13th; Udayan Mane, 71, of Pune, the PGTI Order of Merit leader was tied 20th; Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu, 72, was tied 29th; and Khalin Joshi, 74, and Viraj Madappa, 74, were both tied 47th.
