Kolkata, Nov 25, : Bengaluru’s Mari Muthu R, Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta and Panchkula-based Angad Cheema, Panchkula’s Ankur Chadha, and Vikrant Chopra from Noida shot scores four-under 68 to take the lead in the 2021 ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship. The leading quintet was one shot ahead at three-under-69, which included six players tied sixth at three under 69, including Gurugram’s Tapy Gai, Sri Lankan Anura Rahana, Akram Ali Mollah of Kolkata and last week’s winner Yuvraj S Sandhu of Chandigarh.
Also Delhi’s Kshitij Naved Kaul, Jamshedpur’s Kurush Sheerjee.
It was a high-scoring day that saw sub-par rounds from only 31 players in a field totaling 126.
Mari and Harendra, roommates this week, were at the top of their group with the former firing an Eagle, four birdies, two bogeys, and the latter returning a bogey free round with four birdies.
“I had a great start to the season, with a career-best third position at Eagleton in Feb 2020.
My putting was not on the right track after that start, so I was disappointed.However, I feel that my putting is improving with each event so I’m optimistic of finishing the year strong,” Muthu said.
He made a 20-foot eagle conversion on the fourth.
Harendra, multiple winner of the PGTI has had a promising run since September’s resumption.
He has posted two top-10s as well as two other top-20s.He currently ranks 22nd on the Order of Merit.
“I sank my 18th birdie from 14 feet on the 18th.That seemed to be a spur for me as I collected three more birdies on number nine.Gupta said, “I’m going through swing changes and my iron hitting is good after a long gap because of the changes I made to my game.”
Angad Cheema is currently 23rd in the PGTI Order of Merit.He had five birdies and a bogey Thursday.
Cheema was a winner on PGTI and was five-under through 17 holes.
He was looking good for the sole lead.He bogeyed the ninth hole, missing a five-footer for his only blemish.
This dropped him to the joint lead of four-under.
Ankur Chadha had a great start to the back-nine, with four birdies in his first five holes and then dropping bogeys at the 15th & 18th.
He recovered and picked up two birdies on his front-nine.
Vikrant Chopra also made his way up the leaderboard, firing four birdies on front-nine after being at par on the back-nine.
To tie 42nd, Mithun Perera, the Sri Lankan defense champion, posted a one-over score of 73.
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