SAIL-SBI Open: Chapchai Nirat shares the charge on day one
Chapchai Nirat of Thailand fired a six-under par 66, in the opening round of the SAIL-SBI Open presented by Incredible India, Ministry of Tourism, to share the lead with the Asian Tour rookie Khalin Joshi, on Wednesday, March 6, 2013.
The Asian Tour event is being staged at the Delhi Golf Club, featuring some of the best players from different parts of the world, vying for a share of US$300,000 prize fund.
Nirat, who is looking forward to ending his four-year title drought on the Asian Tour, fired eight birdies, against two bogeys, to finish the day on top of the leaderboard.
His last victory came at the SAIL-SBI Open in 2009, when he set the world record by scoring a 32-under-par 256 tournament score.
Talking to the Asian Tour’s official website, he expressed his pleasure in making such a great start to his campaign in India.
“My putting was very good. I made a lot of one putts, probably took 27 or 28 putts,” said Chapchai, who played alongside Kapur. “Shiv played well on our front nine (on the back) and then I played well coming in. I stuck to my game plan. It’s a tough course
as the fairways are narrow. But if you hit fairways, you can make birdies”.
In the meantime, the local rookie Joshi made a remarkable debut to his Asian Tour campaign by displaying nine birdie spots on his scorecard.
Both the players now hold a one-stroke lead over Chan Kim, the Asian Tour Qualifying School winner. Chiragh Kumar of India and Bangladeshi ace Siddikur Rahman each posted a four-under par 68, to share the fourth spot on the leaderboard.
Home favourite Shiv Kapur, who started his first-round campaign on the front nine of the course, stunned his opponents by finishing his first nine holes in just 29 shots.
He then failed to maintain consistency and faltered for a quadruple bogey eight on the sixth hole, to finish the front nine in 40 shots.
As a result, he finished the day with a three-under par 69, to take the sixth position on the leaderboard.
Tags: