Kochhar leads, Sandhu close by

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 17

Local favourites Karandeep Kochhar and Ajeetesh Sandhu sat at the top of the leaderboard as veteran Jeev Milkha Singh struggled to an even-par round on the opening day of the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational here today. Last year’s runner-up Kochhar shot a 

7-under 65 to lead the trio of Sandhu, Delhi’s Himmat Singh Rai and Madhya Pradesh Om Prakash Chouhan by one shot.

Kochhar was flawless through 16 holes, with the birdie on the 613-yard par-5 7th hole the highlight of his round, before a bogey on the 17th pegged the 20-year-old back a bit. However, Kochhar, who had birdies on the 3rd, 7th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th, made up for the lost shot with a birdie on the final hole. 

“I have been working on my iron-play and it was the best aspect of my game today,” Kochhar said. “I struggled off the tee and found myself in some difficult spots but managed to recover really well... It was fun playing alongside Jeev Sir,” he added.

Sandhu also had just one blemish in his round, a bogey on the par-5 2nd hole. The 31-year-old started from the 10th and birdied five consecutive holes from the 13th to 17th, before adding two more birdies on the 4th and 8th. Rai also mixed seven birdies with a bogey, while Chouhan had a flawless round with six birdies. Four players, including Sri Lankans Mithun Perera and N Thangaraja, were a shot behind at tied-5th. Thangaraja had a hole-in-one on the eighth. Panchkula’s Martendeya Kanishka Sinha also made a hole-in-one, on the 14th. 

Veteran Jyoti Randhawa shot a 2-under 70 to be tied-17th, while Jeev was tied-37th at even-par. Rory Hie, who last month became the first Indonesian to win on the Asian Tour, was also tied-37th. 

Defending champion S Chikkarangappa had a difficult day and was on the wrong side of the projected cut at 1-over 73.