Jairaj Singh Sandhu took the day one honours courtesy his four-under 68 at the Vishwa Samudra Open 2025 presented by Kapil Dev, an INR 2 crore event, being played at the Delhi Golf Club.
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Clubhouse leader Jairaj had Mani Ram close on his heels as the latter struck a 69 to be second in the clubhouse.
Veer Ahlawat, Yuvraj Singh and Sanjeev Kumar were in joint third place with scores of 70.
The start of play was delayed by 15 minutes due to fog in the morning. As a result, 22 players out of a total of 126 could not complete their first round on Tuesday when play was suspended at 5:35 pm due to fading light. These 22 players are scheduled to resume their first round at 7 am on Wednesday morning.
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Among the players with unfinished first rounds, Mari Muthu R was the best-placed as he was one-under through 15 holes.
PGTI Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu shot an opening round of 73.
On a high-scoring first day, the left-handed Jairaj made a slow start with a bogey and a birdie each on the back-nine. Thereafter, Jairaj, a winner on the PGTI, made his presence felt on the leaderboard with three consecutive birdies from the first to the third holes thanks to a couple of outstanding shots from the fairway and a long conversion on the green.
The 28-year-old Jairaj, currently 25th on the PGTI Ranking with a runner-up finish to his credit this year, went on to add another birdie with his longest conversion of the day, a 25-footer on the sixth.
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Jairaj said, “The conditions were not easy because it was quite cold during the start of my round and it took some time for me to get warmed up. The pin positions were also tough. Keeping these factors in mind I feel I did well to shoot a four-under.
“Being a left-hander who hits a fade, it’s easier for me to use my driver on a couple of holes at this course like the third and 18th. That’s a slight advantage that a left-hander enjoys at those two holes at the DGC I would say. I’ve had a patchy season so far but this good start gives me an opportunity to make an impact this week.”
