Three share opening day lead at Hero Indian Open, Sandhu is best-placed Indian

Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, Marcus Kinhult of Sweden and Englishman Marcus Armitage shared the day one lead on 4 under par 68 in the $400,000 58th Hero Indian Open at the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on Thursday with Ajeetesh Sandhu the best-placed home player a shot behind the trio.

But for a lapse that saw him drop a shot on the 18th hole on a tricky day for scoring, Armitage would have led the field by two having come to the tee with one-shot lead on 5 under par. Armitage though was not overly disappointed by the late bogey.

On a day he picked up seven birdies against three dropped shots, Armitage said, "I really like the golf course, it's different, you've got to play some great golf to shoot a good score and I putted fantastic today so it's really cool to get some success around here.

"I just kept patient out there because it can wind you up, this golf course, you can get frustrated pretty quick. I just dug in and I'm really pleased with it."

Sandhu too could have been better placed in his round of 3 under 69 that balanced six birdies against three bogeys and left him tied for fifth with five others, but was pleased at his overall performance. “I wouldn't say anything was great today but I think everything was above average.

“I hit a lot of fairways and greens and putted well. Just kept my head on my shoulders through the day and just kept plugging along. The Hero Indian Open is the biggest event probably that I have played. Every time you tee it up, especially this being our national open, it is always a great feeling competing in this. Hopefully, one day I get to lift the trophy.”

Last year’s joint runner-up Veer Ahlawat was the second Indian in the top 10, on 2 under 70 while two-time champion Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia had the Dubai-based Rayhan Thomas, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shiv Kapur and Om Prakash Chouhan for company in a large group in tied 30th on level par 72.

In the morning, Colsaerts set the pace for the tournament with a birdie blitz that helped him recover from a disappointing start. The 42-year-old dropped two shots in his first three holes but fought back with five birdies in his last 11 holes while fellow early starter Kinhult started strongly, making three birdies in his first four holes before carding two more birdies against a lone dropped shot.

Three-time DP World Tour winner Colsaerts said after his round, "It went great today. It's a difficult golf course and anyone who will shoot under-par today is going to be extremely happy. The rough is high this year, the greens are firmer and it's a little bit like a mini US Open. It's a really hard course.

"The 18th hole is a really nice finishing hole and 16 visually is an amazing par three, there's a couple of great holes on the front. I don't think 17 is going to be of everyone's taste because you don't really see anything, it's big elevation but I think all in all it's a golf course that if you play good golf you're going to enjoy playing.

"I would like to stay as patient as I was today and keep understanding that the pars are good, if you make a few birdies it's great, everybody's going to make bogeys and I’m going to try to keep the ball in play as much as possible."

Added Kinhult, "I got off to a great start with three birdies in the first four holes. Then it was a bit scrappy around the turn.

"I hit some bad shots but scrambled well. I made that bogey on seven, which was a pretty good bogey. I was happy with that one and then just played well towards the end. I gave myself some chances and overall I’m happy with the 68."

Armitage briefly overtook the two with birdie on hole 17 that had him at 5 under but a hooked second shot penalised his run and saw him fall into the three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard.