Rashid takes four-shot lead

Delhi’s Rashid Khan fired an impressive five-under 67 in testing conditions to power his way to a four-shot clubhouse lead in the opening round of the PGTI Players Championships here on Tuesday.

While much of the 120-member pro field was trying hard to get a grip of the Prestige Golfshire Club that made its tournament debut, Rashid was in his elements, finding hardly any trouble with the new course.

Bangalore’s Anirban Lahiri, fresh from his exploits at the British Open where he finished tied 31st, was joint second along with fellow City-mate Abhishek Jha and Sri Lankan Anura Rohana at 71. The quartet of Abhinav Lohan, Himmat Singh Rai, Ajeetesh Sandhi, Kunal Bhasin was a futher stroke away at tied fifth.

Apart from an early bogey on the second hole, Rashid was brilliant throughout, going on the rampage in the last 10 holes where he fired six birdies. Rashid chipped-in for a birdie on the ninth hole and followed that up with an excellent approach shot from 140 yards to set up another birdie on the 12th.

Rashid, a silver medallist at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, picked up shots on the 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th.  Indian Open 2009 winner C Muniyappa, who has been off the course for nearly a year after being plaqued by a back injury, made a an encouraging comeback, carding a respectable 74.

Six golfers could not finish their rounds on Tuesday as play was suspended due to fading light.

Leading scores (after 18 holes): 67: Rashid Khan; 71: Anura Rohana, Anirban Lahiri, Abhishek Jha; 72: Abhinav Lohan, Himmat Singh Rai, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Kunal Bhasin; 73: Randhir Singh Ghotra, Mithun Perera, Vinod Kumar; 74: Manish Goyal, C Muniyappa, M Dharma, Naman Dawar, Akshay Sharma.