Excellent Elvira elevates effortlessly

Spaniard Manuel Elvira had a memorable outing in his first competitive round in India while a bunch of Indians kickstarted their campaign on a positive note as the Duncan Taylor Black Bull Challenge got off to a fast start on Thursday.

An early starter, the 26-year-old Elvira laid down the marker in blistering fashion, firing a brilliant nine-under 63 at the Karnataka Golf Association — the lowest score by a golfer in a professional event here. Bengaluru's Khalin Joshi holds the course record when he fired 62 at the Southern India Amateur Golf Championship way back in 2012.

With the sun out in full cry and scoring relatively easy, especially if the driving was spot-on, a vast number of golfers went in pursuit of Elvira’s mark but only Wales’ Oliver Farr could come close to him, lying second one shot behind.

Man in form Aman Raj, home course pros M Dharma and R Mari Muthu, and talented youngsters Aryan Roopa Anand and Angad Cheema at times threatened to steal Elvira’s thunder but a couple of bad holes ruined their respective causes. They, however, stayed within touching distance of the pace-setter. While Aman and Dharma were tied third with 67, Muthu, Cheema and Bedi were a shot behind at tied 12th along with compatriots Sunhit Bishnoi and Sudhir Sharma.

Hailing from Santander, a port city in north east Spain, Elvira, who is yet to establish himself on the European Challenge Tour, had everyone stunned with probably his best performance in a single round of golf ever. Ranked 635th in the world and without a win in 54 starts so far on the Challenge Tour with just four top-10 finishes and a best of third in the Big Green Egg German Challenge last year in Germany, Elvira looked a different player on Tuesday.

Making light of his ordinary career statistics, Elvira came out all guns blazing. He was aggressive off the tee despite knowing there’s no scope for errors at the tight course. He found the fairways consistently, was top notch with his approach shots, and putted like a dream, pulling off some testy long ones to hog the limelight. It was one of those rare days when everything he touched, barring the bogey on the 17th, turned into gold.

Starting from the 10th, he hammered four straight birdies, all of them set-up by wonderful approach shots from over 100 yards out that landed the ball close to the pin. His momentum slipped on the 17th where he missed a 6-foot par putt but then he was soaring on the inward journey, nailing back-to-back birdies thrice.

Leading scores (after 18 holes, Indians unless mentioned): 63: Manuel Elvira (ESP); 64: Oliver Farr (WAL); 67: Ashley Chesters (ENG), Steven Brown (ENG), Stefano Mazzoli (ITA), M Dharma, Joel Sjoholm (SWE), Aman Raj, Velten Meyer (GER), Matteo Manassero (ITA).