Stockholm Sweden, June 9: It was a rather slow start for Diksha Dagar and also for Shubhankar Sharma at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Open, an event jointly held on the Ladies European Tour and the DP World Tour.
Diksha, coming off a pair of Top-10 finishes on the LET, was way down at 5-over 77 and Sharma was 3-over 75. With only top 65 and ties making the cut into the weekend, both Indians will need strong second round efforts to stay on in the tournament.
Diksha had two birdies and four bogeys on front nine and on the back nine of the Ullna Golf Club she had one birdie, two bogeys and a double bogey.
Sharma had three birdies, two of them the front side of the Ullna Golf Club and he also had four bogeys on the same stretch. He also had a birdie on 10th and a double bogey on the par-5 15th.
Germany’s Yannik Paul and Denmark’s Niklas Nørgaard both fired opening rounds of 65 (-7) to lead at the end of the first day of the co-sanctioned event between the LET and DP World Tour which has 78 men and 78 women playing for the same prize fund of US $2 million and one trophy.
Paul, who began his round on the 10th tee and made two birdies and one bogey in his first nine holes at Ullna Golf Club.
On his back nine he rolled in three consecutive birdies on first to third and added two more on six and seven before finishing with another birdie on nine to seal a round of seven-under-par.
The German teed it up with the latest winner on the LET – Lisa Pettersson – who was victorious at last week’s Helsingborg Open and he was impressed with her game.
Four players sit in a share of third place with France’s Frederic Lacroix, England’s Dale Whitnell, South Africa’s Louis De Jager and Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab all on six-under-par.
Three players ended the day in a tie for seventh place with Germany’s Nicolai Van Dellingshausen, South Africa’s Justin Walters and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen on five-under-par.
