Joshi takes lead with brilliant four-under

India B open up handy lead after opening day

Having honed his skills at the same course, the youngster put his familiarity to good use in carding a brilliant four-under 68 while team-mate Gagan Verma hit 75 as the duo totalled 143 to take a three-stroke lead in the International Team event at the Karnataka Golf Association.

The Team India ‘A’ duo of Abhijit Chadha (71) and Abhinav Lohan (75) are second while S Chikkarangappa (74) and Trishul Chinnappa (77) share the third spot with Bangladesh’s M Dulal Hossain (75) and Mohd Nazim (76) at 151.

The International Team champs will be crowned on Wednesday while the top 32 from the two rounds will earn a ticket for the knockout Matchplay championship. In the 95th Ladies Amateur Championship at the Bangalore Golf Club, it was KGA’s Aditi Ashok who grabbed the early honours.

Unlike the men’s event, the women’s is an individual competition and Aditi set herself up for the Billo Sethi trophy with a two-over 72.

Delhi Golf Club’s Shreya Ghei is second after a 74 while all-India Junior champion Gurbani Singh is third, another stroke behind. In all, 16 girls will qualify for the Matchplay event.
Joshi, who knows the KGA like the back of his hand, made the most of his knowledge where even pros often struggle to come to terms in the early rounds to finish one of just three players going under par.

First to tee off, the 18-year-old kick-started his day in the best manner possible, picking up a stroke on the opening hole itself. He birdied the third and fifth before dropping a stroke on the seventh after three-putting from the green. However, he quickly made amends with a birdie on the 10th and followed it up with a 10-foot eagle on the 11th.
He birdied the 12th too and appeared set to speed ahead, but found the fairway bunkers on the 15th and 18th to drop a stroke each.

Leading scores (after 18 holes): Men: 68: Khalin Joshi; 69: CG Somaiah; 71: Abhijeet Chadha; 72: S Lakra; 73: Udayam Mane; 74: Honey Baisoya, Raja Sardar, Pritam Haridas, S Chikkrangappa, Samresh Sardar.

International Team title: 143: India ‘B’ (Khalin Joshi/ Gagan Verma); 146: India ‘A’ (Abhijit Chadha/ Abhinav Lohan); 151: India ‘C’ (S Chikkarangappa/ Trishul Chinnappa), Bangladesh (M Dulal Hossain/ Mohd Nazim).

153: India ‘D’ (Rahul Ravi/ Saqib Ahmed); 157: Sri Lanka (N Thangaraja/ M Arumugam).
Women: 72: Aditi Ashok; 74: Shreya Ghei; 75: Gurbani Singh; 77: Shraddhanjali Singh, Vani Kapoor; 78: Millie Saroha; 79: Tavleen Batra; 80: Rabiya Gill.