SCORESHEET

December 16th 2009, Mewat, Haryana: Ashok Kumar shot a magnificent seven under 65 to grab the first round lead at the PGTI Tour Championship 2009, being played at the Classic Golf Resort in Tauru, Haryana. Shamim Khan also had a good outing in round one as he was placed second thanks to his effort of five under 67. 

Ashok Kumar

Ashok Kumar of the DLF Golf & Country Club put up an excellent display of driving and putting to dominate round one on Wednesday. He sank consecutive birdies on the fourth and fifth and then picked up another birdie on the eighth to go three under at the turn. Thereafter, Ashok consolidated on the back nine with birdies on the 12th, 13th and an eagle on the 18th.

“It was a great round today. I did well in all aspects of the game. I hit it close on a number of occasions and also made some long putts. Overall, it’s been a highly satisfactory start to this important event and I just want to build on it now. The course is not as easy as it seems and one needs to putt really well to ensure a good score,” said Ashok, who won his last event in April this year.

Shamim Khan of Delhi, Ashok’s playing partner in round one, fired an impressive 67 on the opening day to be placed second. Shamim sank birdies on the fifth, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th. Feroz Ali Mollah, Vijay Kumar and Raju Singh are tied third at four under 68 while Vivek Bhandari, Vishal Singh and Himmat Singh Rai are a further stroke behind in tied sixth.

Gaganjeet Bhullar and SSP Chowrasia are tied 16th at one under 71 while Anirban Lahiri, C Muniyappa and Mukesh Kumar share 25th place with identical scores of one over 73.