Gangjee swept aside in heavy rain and strong winds in Japan.  

Ibaraki, Japan, June 4: Rahil Gangjee was swept aside in heavy rain and gusty winds as he missed the cut in the Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills.

Gangjee, who battled to 2-over 73 in first round h eld out well on the front nine, which he played in one-over. At that stage he was 3-over for the tournament and very much inside the cut which looked likely at 6-over as conditions worsened. However, Gangjee bogeyed 10, 11 and 13 and then double bogeyed 14^th and the extremely difficult 17^th for a 7-over 42 on back nine and a day’s card of 79, which saw him miss the cut.

Also missing the cut was Shaun Norris, who recently won the Golf Partner Pro-Am.

Ryosuke Kinoshita played superbly on a day for 3-under 68 when players were drenched in heavy pouring rain and gusty winds and at one time it looked as if the round might be called off, but the staff at Shishido Hills did a great job to make it playable. Ryosuke with. 67-68 is now -7 and leads the field four shots as rookie pro Yuki Furukawa (67-72) and Kunihiro Kamii (70-69).  Defending Champion Mikumu Horikawa is at T10 at even par.

Some players, who still have to complete their second round will do so on Saturday.

Modest start for Gangjee in Japan

 Ibaraki, Japan, June 3: Rahil Gangjee had a disappointing start in the first round of the Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills with a card of 2-over 73 that put him in danger of missing the cut. The Indian needs a stronger round on the second day to make sure he gets action over the weekend.

Gangjee had two birdies against four bogeys and left a lot of putts out there.  Though he did not have any three-putts, he missed a few makeable birdie putts after managing barely half the drives into the fairways.

Yoshitaka Takeya finished as solo leader with 65 that included a stunning 28 on his back nine. Shishido Hills is known to be tougher on the inward nine holes, but Yoshitaka overcame that with seven birdies in nine holes.

He began with eight pars and a bogey on the front nine. On the back nine he chipped in for birdie on 10^th followed by four straight one-putts for birdies. Ironically he missed a birdie on Par-5 15^th, where he two-putted and then had two more one-putts – for birdie on 17^th and for par on 18^th.