Snake at RCGC stalls Chowrasia progress

Kolkata: Guess what slumped defending champion SSP Chowrasia to a poor 50th place on the leaderboard on the opening day of the PGTI Year-Ending Championship at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club -- a big sleeping snake!

On par after seventh hole, SSP's drive on the trickiest eighth hole went into the red line area -- called 'lateral water hazard' where the scary sight of a coiled snake sleeping in the bushes greeted the reigning champion.

For the two-time European Tour winner who knows the RCGC course inside out, it was not a scary sight though. But having hit into the lateral water hazard, he missed the ball and he was penalised one stroke to finish the eighth hole with a double bogey.

As per the rule, SSP had two options, either to take a fresh tee, or take the shot from a position about two club lengths from the ball's 'point of entry'. SSP chose for the latter only to complete the eighth hole with two-over, a mental setback that affected the 35-year-old's progress.

"Aaj sab kuch hi bura hua hai. Jungle bhi ghoom liya, bahut kuchh dekhna pada mujhe (Nothing went in my favour today. I had to go into the jungle, see many things)," he said referring to the snake.

"It was not scary. It was not a first time that I saw a snake here. But it was difficult to come back from there on as I was under real pressure," Chowrasia lamented. Chowrasia finished three over 75 on a day when Anirban Lahiri eying a first at the RCGC, led the charts with six under 66.

But the defending champion said there's a lot of action left in the McLeod Russel Tour Championship offering Rs 1.35 crore highest ever in a PGTI tournament in India.

"We still have three more days' action left. Anything can happen, the course will play hard. I still have a chance to comeback," Chowrasia added.

Lahiri takes day one honours

Lahiri takes day one honours

Kolkata: Anirban Lahiri of Bangalore fired a sizzling six-under 66 to take the round one lead at the PGTI's year-ending McLeod Russel Tour Championship at the RCGC today.

Gurgaon-based Jyoti Randhawa returned a five-under-67 to be on the leader's tail in second place. In pursuit of his first-ever title at the RCGC, Lahiri made a perfect start to the tournament by registering eight birdies against two bogeys in round one.

Lahiri was in red hot form as he made birdie putts from 15 to 25 feet on the third, eighth and 17th holes. The 26-year-old from the Eagleton Golf Resort, Bangalore, also hit it well by landing it within six feet for birdies on the ninth, 10th and 18th.

A winner of three titles in 2013 (one on Asian Tour and two on PGTI), Lahiri capitalised on both par-5s, the fourth and 15th, after finding the green in two shots and setting up two-putt birdies. Lahiri's two bogeys came as a result of his ball being plugged in the bunker on the seventh and his tee shot landing in the water hazard on the 16th.

"I holed almost everything except for one short par putt on the 16th. The best shot of the day has to be the 25-foot downhill birdie putt on the 17th. That putt was not easy to execute. I struck it well and found most fairways. The conditions were tough in the morning as it was windy. I feel a lot more comfortable at RCGC now than I was few years back.

"I've played a lot of golf with Rashid and Chikka, both of whom were my playing partners today. Therefore it was like a fun game and there was no pressure. This week the key will be to find the fairways with the tee shots as the fairways are quite narrow here. It's not easy to recover if one misses the fairway."

Randhawa had a flurry of birdies on the front-nine to make the turn at five-under. He landed it within four feet on the first to pick up his first birdie.

Randhawa then chipped-in on the third and sank 10-feet birdie putts on the fifth and sixth holes. The former Asia No 1 who hails from the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, added a birdie and a bogey on the back-nine.

"I had a top-5 on the Asian Tour recently. I've had some momentum going since that performance. I've been swinging well. However, my form has been a little patchy and I need to fire lower scores. I hit a lot of good shots today and putted well. It's great to be back in Kolkata since this is the city where I played my first competitive event as a sub-junior," said Randhawa.

Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad and Lucknow's Sanjay Kumar occupy joint third place at four-under-68. Lohan's bogey-free 68 featured an eagle and two birdies.

His eagle on the fourth came as a result of a 40-feet conversion from the fringe. Sanjay, on the other hand, recorded five birdies and a bogey. He landed his approach shots within five feet on the first, 12th and 17th.
Rookies Khalin Joshi of Bangalore and Angad Cheema of Panchkula are a further shot behind in tied fifth place.

Rahil Gangjee finished round one in tied seventh place at two-under-70. He is currently the highest-placed among the professionals from Kolkata. Gaganjeet Bhullar is in tied 13th position at one-under-71. Rolex Rankings leader Rashid Khan lies tied 23rd at even-par-72 while defending champion SSP Chowrasia is placed tied 50th at three-over-75.