Sachin Baisoya shot 67 for a solo lead
Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya, fresh from his season’s best finish in Noida last month, set the bar in round one of the Kensville Open 2018 presented by PGTI as he carded an error-free five-under 67 to enjoy a one-shot lead at the Kensville Golf & Country Club.
Teenager Arjun Prasad, another Delhi-based golfer, occupied second place after a round of four-under 68 at the Rs. 40 lakh event.
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The 22-year-old Sachin Baisoya, currently placed 52nd in the PGTI Order of Merit, was extremely accurate off the tee on Tuesday as he regularly found the centre of the fairway to set up a number of birdie opportunities.
He made three 10-feet conversions and salvaged birdies from the edge of the green on two occasions, one a two-putt on the 14th and the other a chip-putt on the closing ninth.
Sachin said, “I felt the rhythm was good coming into this event as I had posted my first top-10 of the year, a tied seventh finish, at the last PGTI event in Noida last month. I’ve been driving and hitting better since that event.
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“Today I struck it really well and found the centre of the fairway on many occasions. That helped me set up most of my birdies. I made all fairways except for one. I also made some long two-putts. However, it was really disappointing to miss a two-foot birdie putt on the eighth.
“Last season was great for me as I secured four top-20s including two top-10s. But I had a few issues with my hitting in the first half of this year and my game suffered as a result. I then took coaching from senior pros Vinod Kumar and Harendra Gupta that got my game back on track.”
Nineteen-year-old Arjun Prasad, who has had a runner-up finish and a third-place finish in the current season, also came up with a bogey-free effort on Tuesday.
Prasad, placed 15th in the PGTI Order of Merit at the moment, sank his first birdie of the day on the fourth. Arjun, playing only his second season as a professional, then enjoyed a late surge as he came up with birdies on the 14th, 16th and 17th.
Prasad said, “I’ve been playing well since the Noida event. The third-place finish in Noida was a morale-booster.
“One has to hit most fairways here and place it well off the tee. The wind picks up in the second half here so one has to watch out for that too. Both nines have tough and easy holes so one has to play well on both sides to score low here.”
Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha and Gurgaon-based Tapy Ghai returned scores of three-under 69 to be tied third.
Chennai-based rookie Shivnaren Srinivasan fired a hole-in-one on the 11th during his round of three-over-75. He was placed tied 51st.
Among the local players, professional Arshpreet Thind posted a 79 to be tied 92nd while amateur Lokinder Malik shot an 82 to be tied 117th.