Jamshedpur: Digvijay Singh came up with a personal best single-round score of eight-under-63 at the Golmuri Golf Club today to emerge as the round one leader at the 12th Tata Open.
Delhi's Chiragh Kumar and Ranjit Singh of Chandigarh fired scores of six-under-65 to be placed joint second along with M Dharma of Bangalore, who recorded a six-under-66 at Beldih Golf Club. Digvijay, a winner on the Asian Tour, wreaked havoc with an eagle and seven birdies on day one. Digvijay of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, had a dream start to the week as he was two-on on the par-5 second green and then sank a four-footer for eagle.
The 41-year-old went on to convert birdie putts from eight to 15 feet on the fifth, 10th and 11th to move to five-under for the day. He finished the round in style with birdies on the last three holes.
The Gurgaon-based golfer landed his third shot from 110 yards to within five feet for birdie on the 16th. His terrific tee shot on the par-3 17th left him a three-feet birdie putt. Chirag and Ranjit's scores of six-under-65 helped them occupy joint second place along with Dharma. While Ranjit made an eagle, five birdies and a bogey, Chiragh had seven birdies and a bogey to his credit. Amardip Sinh Malik of Greater Noida, Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta and Delhi golfer Ashok Kumar produced scores of five-under-66 to be placed tied fifth.
Jamshedpur-based amateur Karan Taunk and Chandigarh's K Raghav Bhandari, both of whom played at Golmuri, were a further shot behind in tied eighth place. Defending champ Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka returned a one-over-73 at Beldih to be placed tied 51st. One half of the field played eight holes at the par-72 Beldih Golf Club, while the golfers in the other half completed their rounds at the par-71 Golmuri Golf Club. Both halves of the field would switch venues tomorrow.
