Golfer Shaurya shoots 68 to lead Kolar Open

Gurugram’s Dhruv Sheoran, Greater Noida’s Arjun Sharma and Bangladesh’s Badal Hossain were one shot behind in tied second after carding matching three-under 69s

Shaurya Bhattacharya Special Arrangement

KOLAR: Shaurya Bhattacharya carded a four-under 68 to take a one-shot lead in the opening round of the second edition of the ₹1crore Kolar Open at the ZION Hills Golf County in Kolar near Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old from Delhi, a two-time winner on the DP World PGTI and currently 16th in the season rankings, made an eagle and four birdies against two bogeys to move to the top of the leaderboard.

Bhattacharya began with a par before his round came alive on the par-five second, where he chipped in for eagle. He followed that with a bunker shot to about two feet for birdie on the third and chipped to within a foot on the fourth, moving to four-under through his opening four holes.

He picked up two more shots on the back nine, making birdies on the 11th and 13th. A 15-foot conversion on the 13th helped steady his round before he finished with a sequence of pars to secure the outright lead. Shaurya’s two bogeys came on the eighth and 14^th.

Gurugram’s Dhruv Sheoran, Greater Noida’s Arjun Sharma and Bangladesh’s Badal Hossain were one shot behind in tied second after carding matching three-under 69s.

Bhattacharya, who finished runner-up by two shots in the inaugural edition last year, was pleased to take advantage of his fast start. “Getting to four-under through the first four holes gave me early momentum,” he said. “The course played tough, especially as the greens became firmer towards the end, but I stayed patient on the back nine and managed to put together a very good round.”

The golfer believes that the Zion Hills sets apart from most venues on the DP World PGTI. “It is a really good test of golf and unlike most courses we play,” he said. “There is plenty of wind and the greens are huge, which makes the pin positions particularly important. I played well here last year, so I’m looking forward to the next three rounds.”

Current DP World PGTI Rankings leader Saptak Talwar, who spent the summer competing on the HotelPlanner Tour, returned an even-par 72 to share 11th place. Talwar was joined on that total by Ajeetesh Sandhu, Yuvraj Singh and Md Muaj.

Defending champion Kshitij Naveed Kaul of Delhi opened with a one-over 73 to occupy tied 15th place.

Only 14 players from the field of 132 managed to shoot even-par or better, underlining the challenge presented by the par-72 layout.