TATA Steel meet: City golfer Aadil in joint lead
Local golfer Aadil Bedi, Delhi’s Saarthak Chhibber and Sri Lankan N Thangaraja shot scores of 6-under 65 to be the joint leaders after Round 1 of the TATA Steel Tour Golf Championship, the season-ending event being played at the Beldih and Golmuri Golf Courses in Jamshedpur.
The four players tied for second place at 5-under 66 were Pune’s Rohan Dhole Patil, Shamim Khan of Delhi, Bengaluru’s M Dharma and Jamal Hossain of Bangladesh.
Two-time TATA Steel Tour Championship winner Udayan Mane, TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat and SSP Chawrasia were among the six players at tied eighth at 4-under 67.
Defending champion and two-time winner Gaganjeet Bhullar returned an even-par 71 to be tied 34th.
Bedi was one-over through the back-nine where he made two birdies at the cost of three bogeys. However, currently 48th on the PGTI’s money list, he came roaring back with a fabulous front-nine where he pocketed five birdies and an eagle on the closing ninth. His eagle and two birdies came as a result of conversions from a range of 10 to 15 feet.
“After a slow start, I found my groove in the second half of my round. Even though it’s not reflecting in my scores, my game has been trending well of late. It’s now a matter of putting it all together this week,” said Bedi.
Chhibber, currently 27th on the PGTI’s merit list with three top-10s this season, was quick off the blocks with three birdies on the first six holes, hitting it close on most occasions. After a bogey on the eighth, he came back well with an excellent chip to set up a birdie on the ninth. With his ball-striking being top-notch, the 26-year-old collected three more birdies on the back-nine including a great up and down from the bunker. Chhibber scored birdies on all four par-5s.
The first round of the tournament saw one half of the field play their first nine holes at Golmuri Golf Course and second nine at Beldih Golf Course while the other half of the field saw Beldih play first followed by Golmuri. This format will also be followed for the next three rounds of the tournament in Jamshedpur with the par for the round being 71.
