Karandeep Kochhar and Kshitij Naveed Kaul fired scores of seven-under 64 to end round one as joint leaders at The Poona Club Open, an INR 1 crore event, being played at the Poona Club Golf Course in Pune.
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Rashid Khan and Saarthak Chhibber produced rounds of six-under 65 to be placed tied third.
Divyansh Dubey, who sank two eagles during his round of 66, was the highest-placed among the Pune-based professionals. Divyansh shared fifth place along with Chandarjeet Yadav and M Dharma.
Among the prominent names, TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat carded a 68 to be tied 12th while local favourite Udayan Mane returned a 72 to be tied 60th.
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Karandeep, who was in great driving form came up with a flawless 64 on Wednesday. He converted two short birdie putts on the front-nine before driving the green on the par-4 ninth and rolling in a 15-footer for eagle there. He drove the very next green on the par-4 10th to set up a two-putt for birdie there. The 25-year-old Asian Tour regular thereafter added two more birdies to his card including another 15-feet conversion.
Karandeep said, “Importantly, I was aggressive with the driver from the start and my chipping and putting were also spot on. This is my seventh event in a row so the body is a bit tired but nonetheless my game has been trending in the right direction and I’m quite pleased about that.
“It’s about taking advantage on the short Par-4 holes at this course. There are a few narrow fairways but the rough is not up, so one can still be aggressive with the driver.”
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Kshitij made eight birdies and a bogey during his opening round.
The 23-year-old Kshitij said, “I have good memories of the Poona Club Golf Course as I won my maiden professional title here in my rookie season in 2019. That was just my fifth start in my first full season as a pro. I’ll look to capitalize on those good memories this week.”
