Teenaged Kartik Singh, who made his professional debut just a week ago, glowed brightly in the fading light on the opening day at the IGPL Invitational Delhi NCR hosted by Gaurav Ghei.
The 16-year-old, who was Tied-eighth last week, promised bigger things with an opening 4-under 68 in rather difficult scoring conditions. It was a day which saw a nearly three-hour interruption due to rain accompanied by threats of lightning.
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Kartik, 5-under through 17, finished with a bogey. At 4-under he was one shot clear of the field.
Three players, Tushar Pannu, Veer Ganapathy and Aalaap IL were tied for second place at 3-under. Tushar, a first year professional, fired a bogey free 3-under 69 and last week’s third-place finisher, teenaged Veer, finished birdie-birdie. Aalaap, 4-under through 17, closed with a bogey.
Another left-hander Kartik Sharma finished at 2-under alongside Karandeep Kochhar (70).
Kapil Kumar, who showed up prominently on the leaderboard last week in Chandigarh was seventh at 71 alongside the experienced Sachin Baisoya.
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Last week’s champion, Gaganjeet Bhullar, the consistent M Dharma, new rookie Raghav Chugh, Saarthak Chibber and Pukhraj Singh Gill were tied in ninth place at even par.
Local amateur Arshvant Srivastava playing his first big event alongside top professionals, showed no signs of nervousness. Starting in the first group from the tenth, the 16-year-old played fast and beat the rain as he finished before the stoppage. He birdied early on the 11th but bogeyed the 17th.
Into his second nine he birdied the second to get to 1-under. Then came a lapse as he bogeyed the 12th and double bogeyed the Par-5 13th. He bounced back with a birdie on the 14th and closed with four pars for a one-over 73 and was the top amateur at ied-14th, alongside the top women Amandeep Drall and Durga Nittur.
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Kartik Singh had a roller-coaster of a front nine. He began with a bogey but got that shot back on the very next hole, the Par-5 second. He birdied the fifth and added one more gain on the seventh, but again gave back a shot on the ninth. He turned in 1-under but felt was playing well.
The shy Kartik said, “I was 2-under when the stoppage came. Actually, I just putted out the birdie on the 11th exactly when play was stopped.”
On resumption, Kartik showed no lapse in concentration, as he picked three birdies in a row from the 13th to the 15th, picking one shot each on the Par 4, Par-3 and Par-5 holes, playing each hole with great skill and maturity.
“That was a good run, and I was 5-under. On the 18th I went into the rough and then into bunker. I left my par putt short to about 12 feet and missed. Overall, I played quite well in the conditions.”
