Local Akshay leads with 64 and Chikka lies 2nd as PGTI returns to action after eight months

Akshay Sharma at the PGTI. Championships at Panchkula Golf Club. Pic: PGTI

Panchkula, November 4: The hunger and eagerness showed as Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh marked the return to action on the PGTI with a solid 8-under 64 in the first round of the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020 Presented by Panchkula Golf Club.

Asian Tour regular Chikkarangappa of Bengaluru was second at six-under-66.

The tournament is being played on two courses with one half of the field teeing up at the Chandigarh Golf Club and the other half plays at the neighbouring Panchkula Golf Club and on the second the players will switch venues. The final two rounds will be played at Panchkula.

While the top two scores came in from the Panchkula Golf Club, Kolkata’s Sunit Chowrasia, nephew of the Asian and European Tour star, SSP Chawrasia, recorded the day’s best score at Chandigarh Golf Club with five-under-67 to occupy third place.

Local youngster Karandeep Kochhar shot a 68 at the same venue to be tied fourth along with Gurugram’s Manu Gandas.

Chandigarh’s Aadil Bedi and Patna’s Aman Raj were tied sixth with 69 each, established star Rashid Khan (70) was tied 13th.

The PGTI Order of Merit leader Udayan Mane, who in his last four starts before the shut down due to Covid, won three events and finished second in another, shot 71 and was Tied-20th.

Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu (72) was tied 29th and Khalin Joshi (74) and Viraj Madappa (74) were both tied 47th.

Akshay Sharma, whose lone win on the PGTI came in 2018 at the QA Infotech Open, had an error-free round. His iron play was such that at least five of his birdies came from inside five feet. He also had a couple of putts between 12 to 15 feet.

Akshay said, “I was quite accurate today as I found all fairways and made 17 greens in regulation. It got a little windy on the back-nine but I still managed five birdies there thanks to my good ball-striking.

“Playing at Panchkula was the bigger challenge for me as Chandigarh is my home course. I didn’t expect to go so low here, so this score is like a bonus for me as I’m confident of doing well in Chandigarh tomorrow.

Sharma added, “This was my first competitive round in almost eight months like most other golfers playing this event. However, I didn’t feel rusty as I had been regularly playing pro-pool rounds with fellow Chandigarh professionals during the past few months.”

Chikkarangappa, a 13-time winner on the PGTI, also got off to a splendid start on Wednesday but had a contrasting round as compared to Akshay’s. Chikka sank nine birdies in exchange for three bogeys in a round where he made some tremendous recoveries after finding the hazard or the trees on at least four occasions. He also performed well with the putter draining four birdies from a range of 12 to 15 feet.

Chikka said, “I scrambled well today, made some quality up and downs and holed some tricky putts from 13 to 14 feet. The highlight of my round though would be the par save on the 11th where I found my ball in the hazard and struck a couple of good shots from there to salvage the hole. That gave me the momentum to pick up three more birdies thereafter.

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