KAEC, Near Jeddah, Feb 3: Shiv Kapur landed four birdies on the back nine, including three in the last four to card 5-under and was lying T-4th alongside former World No. 1 Dustin Johnson and the latest Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, Kim Joohyung, who also shot 65 each.
Kapur, who turns 40 in less than 10 days, carded 65 and was three behind surprise leader Italian Matteo Manassero (62). England’s Sam Horsfield and Spaniard Adri Arnaus carded 64s and were Tied-second.
Rashid Khan, too, had a good comeback after a sedate front nine for a round of 4-under 66 that placed him T-12. Shubhankar Sharma, runner-up at the Abu Dhabi Championship last month, looked in great form with three birdies on the trot in his first four holes after starting from the 10th. He then parred the next 10 before dropping a shot on sixth, which he made up with a birdie on Par-3 eighth, his penultimate hole. He was lying T-23rd.
Among other Indians was Veer Ahlawat (71) at one-over alongside Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood. Khalin Joshi (74) shot 4-over, while Viraj Madappa was 1-under after 15 and S Chikkarangappa was even after 15.
Kapur, now based in Dubai, who was also hit by Covid during the break, said, “It was a pretty steady round. Nothing brilliant, just lots of fairways and greens. A couple of greens that I missed narrowly, I managed to get up and down. I never really put myself in trouble, so you know it was one of those sort of stress-free rounds – fairways and greens and give myself chances.”
“The greens are a little bit tricky to read here. Fast greens late in the day can be a bit of a challenge as ball kind of bounces around a bit.”
He added, “I think today the conditions today were probably as easy as we’re going to see the whole week. When you get a day like today when there’s not much wind, you need to take advantage of it.”
On his season so far, he added, “Yeah. A bit of stop and start and after the break. I had Covid over the break and then came out a bit of lacklustre but I felt over the weekend I played quite steady in Singapore. Again nothing brilliant but just did a lot of good things and shot four rounds and came in this week. I was feeling quite good. I like the golf course and makes you think a little bit. There’s a bit of strategy involved. And you need to have the right sections of the green.”
Kapur, who spent a little over 11 years between his first and second Asian Tour wins in 2005 and 2017, had three successes in 2017. Since then he lost a play-off in Thailand and a good start this week should renew his confidence.
Kapur began with a birdie on fourth but gave it back in sixth only to get another birdie on ninth. On the back nine of the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, Kapur birdied Par-3 11th and then further gains on 15th, 16th and 17th. It was a rare occasion when he missed the fairway on 18th and made only a par.
Rashid Khan, one of the early starters bogeyed his opening hole but steadied himself and played a fine back nine with three birdies to finish with 4-under 66 at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. He was Tied-12th.
“It was a good start and I was happy to finish the way I did with birdie-birdie after the kind of a start (bogey on first) I had,” said Rashid. “On the back nine I found the fairways and holed a lot of putts, so a good start.”
Manassero shot a stunning 8-under 62 that gave him the sole lead while newly minted Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, Kim, American Dustin Johnson, the defending champion, and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai were two behind came in with 66s. Horsfield and Arnaus were tied second at 6-under 64.
The 28-year-old Manassero was player to watch when he won four titles in three years, the last of which was the 2013 at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour. But he has since then struggled with his game.
In the first round, he played the front nine in six-under-par 29 with six birdies before adding two more birdies on the homeward stretch.
Phachara began his round on hole 10 and made five birdies in a row from the 14th to go out in 30.
