Rohan Dhole Patil hit the front with a top-notch seven-under 65 on day one of the Rs 80 lakh IndianOil SERVO Masters 2023 being played at the Digboi Golf Links.
Sachin Baisoya, the winner of the last PGTI event and Arjun Sharma fired scores of 66 to be tied for second.
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TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Om Prakash Chouhan struck a 67 to be placed tied fourth along with Mohd Azhar, Bangladesh’s Md Akbar Hossain and Sri Lanka’s K Prabagaran.
Deven Bhumij was the highest-placed among the Digboi-based professionals after he carded a 69 to be tied 12th.
Rohan’s opening round gave him hope of a turnaround as he has been struggling to find form this season having made five cuts out of 14 starts and registering just one top-10.
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The 27-year-old, who turned pro in 2022, had a fruitful front-nine on Wednesday that featured three birdies including one great recovery from the hazard and an eagle on the ninth that came as a result of a chip-in.
On the back-nine, Rohan offset his two bogeys with four birdies that included some good chip-putts.
Rohan said, “My form has not been good this season but I’ll look to capitalize on this solid start. My short-game was sharp especially from the ninth hole onwards where I chipped-in. The key over the next three days will be to sink as many putts as possible.”
