Golconda Masters Golf Championship: Amardip sets record, leads after 1st round

Hyderabad: Noida’s Amardip Malik, also known to his friends and fellow golfers as ‘Hammer-Deep’, lived up to his name as he hammered a sparkling nine-under-62 to take the first round lead at the PGTI's season-opener, the Golconda Masters Golf Championship 2019 Powered By Telangana Tourism being held at the Hyderabad Golf Club.

In the process, Malik also equaled two-time Golconda Masters champion and good friend Ajeetesh Sandhu's course record which the latter had set in 2016.

Amardip Malik had an action-packed day as he sank an incredible 12 birdies in exchange for a bogey and a double-bogey. The 33-year-old had a disastrous start to the tournament after he hit it out of bounds on the first hole to drop a double-bogey.

Thereafter, it was one-way traffic for Amardip barring a bogey on the fifth, as he not only staged a remarkable comeback but also finished with the best round of the day courtesy his exceptional ball-striking and iron-play and consistent putting. He made birdies on all the four par-5s finding the green in two shots on three of them.

Malik made some quality chip-putts for birdies and missed out on a hole-in-one by a whisker on the seventh. His accurate approaches on a couple of holes set up birdie putts within five feet and he also drained three birdies from a range of 15 to 30 feet.