SCORESHEET

September 28th 2011, Gurgaon, Haryana: Jyoti Randhawa fired a five under 67 in testing conditions at his home course to lead on the opening day of the DLF Masters 2011. Anirban Lahiri’s 68 placed him second on the leaderboard on a high-scoring day where only 11 golfers out of a total of 120 broke par.

Jyoti Randhawa putted well and grabbed all the birdie opportunities that came his way to end up with the day’s best score. The Gurgaon-based golfer’s card featured seven birdies and two bogeys on Wednesday. Randhawa hit a purple patch from the ninth through to the 11th where he had three back-to-back birdies. He hit his tee shot within a couple of feet for birdie on the 11th.

Jyoti said, “I putted really well today and converted putts whenever I had a birdie opportunity. I hit it good. The windy conditions made life difficult out there so I thought I was lucky to shoot a five under. It was a good day of conversions for me. I grabbed all the opportunities that came my way.”

Bangalore’s Anirban Lahiri fired a four under 68 to be one stroke off the pace in second position. Lahiri, who won his first Asian Tour title earlier this year, made an eagle on the sixth besides four birdies and two bogeys in round one. He found the green in two shots on the par-5 sixth and then sank a 15-footer for eagle. Anirban finished the day on a high with birdies on the last two holes.

Vijay Kumar of Lucknow produced a three under 69 to be placed third. He made five birdies against two bogeys.

Fourth position is currently shared by Om Prakash Chouhan, Gaurav Ghei, Amardip Simh Malik, Gurbaaz Mann and Deepinder Singh Kullar.

Defending champion Ashok Kumar and Himmat Singh Rai are in tied 12th position at even par 72.

Among the other prominent names in the field, Mukesh Kumar, the current Rolex Rankings leader, carded a 73 to lie joint 23rd while SSP Chowrasia’s 74 placed him tied 40th. Gaganjeet Bhullar, the 2009 DLF Masters champion, returned a score of 76 to be placed tied 60th.