PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Dec 22: Tata Steel Tour Championship 2022 being held in Jamshedpur is turning out to be an interesting golfing event with brilliant performances by Delhi’s Kapil Kumar and Shiv Kapur, winner of several international titles.
Delhi’s Kapil Kumar shot a brilliant nine-under 63 to take the round one lead at the Rs. 3 crores Tata Steel Tour Championship 2022, the Tata Steel PGTI’s season-ending event being played at the Beldih and Golmuri Golf Courses in Jamshedpur.
Shiv Kapur, a winner of six international titles, struck a 64 to be placed second. Shiv’s round featured an albatross on the par-5 ninth hole where he holed his second shot from 240 yards.
Hyderabad’s Mohd Azhar occupied the third place at 65.
The first round of the tournament saw one half of the field play their first nine holes at Golmuri Golf Course and the second nine at Beldih Golf Course while the other half of the field played Beldih 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 72.
Kapil Kumar, currently 21st in the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings with three top-10s to his credit in the season, fired it close to the hole at Golmuri to pick up three of his four birdies on the front-nine from a range of six feet.
Kapil, a runner-up in Pune this year, then sank longer putts on the newly-relaid Beldih to pick up three more birdies. He also made a six-foot eagle conversion on the 12th.
Shiv Kapur, who has been recovering from a rib injury and thus played his first competitive round in over two months, was off to a brisk start with two birdies and an albatross on the ninth at Golmuri.
Tata Steel PGTI Rankings leader Manu Gandas shot a 66 to be tied fourth along with Udayan Mane and Chikkarangappa.
Among the prominent names, Jyoti Randhawa (67) was tied seventh, SSP Chawrasia (69) was tied 16th, Ajeetesh Sandhu (70), currently third in the PGTI Order of Merit, was tied 22nd, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (72), currently second in the PGTI Order of Merit, was tied 36th, Gaganjeet Bhullar (76) was tied 69th and Jeev Milkha Singh (79) was tied 73rd.
The two Jamshedpur-based professionals, Karan Taunk (73) and Kurush Heerjee (75) were placed tied 49th and tied 66th respectively.
With a winning purse of Rs. 45 lakh at stake, the biggest-ever on the PGTI, it’s going to be a close contest for the Tata Steel PGTI Rankings title between the top three on the Order of Merit – Manu Gandas, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Ajeetesh Sandhu.
