Abhijit Singh Chadha excelled in familiar conditions at his home course to take the round one lead at the Rs 50 lakh PGTI Players Championship 2022 presented by Chandigarh Golf Club. Abhijit’s dream start saw him shoot a six-under 66 that featured a hole-in-one on the 14th.
On a windy day when scoring was not easy, Kartik Sharma produced the day’s only bogey-free card to be tied second at 67. Md Zamal Hossain Mollah and Ravi Kumar also struck 67s to join southpaw Kartik in tied second position.
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The 30-year-old Abhijit, a three-time winner on the PGTI, made a solid start to the week with birdies on the second and fifth, landing his approach within six feet on the latter. Abhijit, who won in Pune last year, then zoomed on the leaderboard with a birdie on the 13th followed by a hole-in-one on the 14th.
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Abhijit then had a minor blip on the 15th where he dropped a bogey but more than made up for that with birdies on the 16th and 17th. He drove the green on the par-4 17th.
Abhijit, who scored on three of the four par-5s on Day One, said, “The wind didn’t affect me much as I play here day in and day out and know my way around the course. However, I feel the heat will be the bigger challenge this week. In that sense, we got lucky today with the weather as it wasn’t that hot.
“The form has been good but I feel that I haven’t peaked yet. I’m just beginning to play well. I’m confident of playing well this week as I know the conditions well here. The hole-in-one was special as it turned out to be a perfect 7-iron shot.”
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Kartik got going early with three birdies on the first six holes. Playing his second season on the PGTI, he then had a quiet stretch till the 16th before closing in style with birdies on the last two holes which included a quality chip-putt on the 17th.
Kartik said, “It’s quite satisfying to go error-free in tough conditions like we had today. My putting form has been off and on so I just focused on that aspect in the practice round on Monday. I told myself to keep trusting my putting.
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“This is one of those courses which doesn’t suit my eye but every time I play here I learn something new about this course that helps me perform better.”
Sri Lanka’s N Thangaraja and Indians Kshitij Naveed Kaul and Shivendra Singh Sisodia shared the fifth spot having fired rounds of 68.
