IGU: Krish Chawla shoots sizzling 65 on day 1

Hyderabad (Telangana)[India], April 14 : Promising Krish Chawla burnt the course with a sizzling bogey-free five-under 65 on a scorching opening day of the IGU Telangana Amateur Golf Championship at the Hyderabad Golf Club here on Tuesday.

The 17-year-old from Chandigarh hardly put a foot wrong en route to a one-shot lead over the trio of Shashank Sachin, Ranveer Mitroo and Gulfam Hussian. Shamit Dakhane was a further stroke behind in sole fifth place.

Vinamra Anand, winner of the season opener, and Chaitanya Padey were tied sixth on two-under 68, while last week's winner, Ribhav Verma, struggled to get going, ending tied 16th with nine others at one-over 71.

Chawla, playing his first full season on the amateur circuit, was solid off the tee, immaculate with his approaches and held his own on the greens for his 65. He hit all 18 greens in regulation. If not for the four lip-outs, the teenager would have been sitting on an even bigger cushion than the one-shot lead he ended up with.

Looking for his first win on the amateur tour, Chawla began with birdies on the two par-3s the third and the 230-yard fourth. He holed a 20-footer on the third and stuck his 5-iron tee shot to four feet on the fourth. He was unlucky not to pick up shots on the fifth and sixth holes due to unfortunate lip-outs. But a birdie on the eighth hole saw him take the turn at three-under.

After missing birdies on the 10th and 11th, Chawla nailed the pin on the 12th with his 9-iron second shot into the wind. He picked up another shot on the par-3 16th for a blemish-free round.

Mitroo, who started on the 10th tee, was on fire in his front nine, draining four birdies. However, the Delhi lad seemed to take his foot off the pedal in the second half. He dropped a shot on the fourth, but made amends on the next hole with a birdie to snap at Chawla's heels.

Leading scores (after 18 holes): 65: Krish Chawla (Chd); 66: Shashank Sachin (Mah), Ranveer Mitroo (Del), Gulfam Hussain (Har); 67: Shamit Dakhane (Mah); 68: Chaitanya Pandey (Del), Vinamra Anand (UP); 69: Sunil S (Kar), Deepak Yadav (Del).

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