Tapendra hits front

Delhi teenager cards level-par 72 for one-shot lead

Delhi’s Tapendra Ghai returned with the only level-par card of the day to grab the honours in the opening round of the Southern India Juniors Golf Championship here on Tuesday.

Title contenders Viraj Madappa and Manu Gandas were at tied second along with Prakhar Asawa at 73 while Piyush Sangwan was sole fifth, a further shot behind, in Category A at the Karnataka Golf Association.

After a cautious start, Ghai picked up his first shot of the day with a fine birdie on the par-4 fourth hole. He, however, dropped a shot three holes later, turning in at level-par. Ghai holed his second birdie on the par-5 14th and just when it appeared he would emerge with the only below-par card of the day, the teenager dropped a shot on the closing 18th.

Gandas, who won last week at the Eagleton Golf Resort, endured a topsy-turvy round. After bogeying the fourth and seventh holes, Gandas hauled himself back with birdies on the eighth, 10th and 11th. However, just like Ghai, Gandas too bogeyed the 18th to finish on 73.

Madappa too had a bad start before salvaging the damage on the back nine. Following two bogeys and a double bogey, Madappa nailed three birdies on the inward journey.

Leading scores (after 18 holes): Category A: 72: Tapendra Ghai; 73: Viraj Madappa, Manu Gandas, Prakhar Asawa; 74: Piyush Sangwan; 75: Jairaj Singh Sandhu, Feroz Singh Garewal, Varun Parikh, Arjun Malik.

Category B: 77: Jaiveer Singh; 78: K Sidharth, Arjun Prasad; 80: Arjun Puri; 81: Karandeep Kochar; 82: Ranveer Grewal, Saarthak Chhibber, Tanvir Kahlon.