Pappan on top of leaderboard

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, AUG. 8. Like the footballers of Brazil, many of them are known by just a single name - Pappan, Chini, what have you.

And like the boys from the sun-kissed beaches of Brazil who go on to turn those names into legends in the world of sport, the young men with stars in their eyes who have grown up in or around famous golf courses in India go on to embellish their names in the Who's Who of golf in the country.

Right now, if you looked up the Who's Who, it is unlikely that the name Pappan would exist. But, if Wednesday's opening round in the Rs. 7.5 lakh The Hindu Open at the Cosmo-TNGF course is anything to go by, then the little know Delhi pro should soon make his way into the elite list.

From an impressive field that includes some of the game's acknowledged heavyweights, it was Pappan's name that was on top of the leaderboard after the first round as the self- effacing Delhi pro shot a stirring six-under 66.

There is still a long, long way to go before Pappan can even begin to dream of the Rs. 1,21,500 first prize cheque but the fact is he enjoys a two-stroke advantage going into the second round.

Sharing second place are two experienced golfers, the Mahindra Golfer of the Year Mukesh Kumar from Mhow and the flamboyant Kolkata player Bunty Randhawa whose cousin Jyoti has been making waves at the international level. Both turned in cards of four- under 68.

On a warm humid day, the players found some of the greens a little too slow but most were in close to perfect condition. The wind is never as big a factor at the Cosmo-TNGF course as it is at the Gymkhana course in Guindy.

Pappan had the kind of start that pros often dream of but seldom get to play in tournament conditions. Starting on the 10th with a birdie, he fired an eagle on the 412-yard 11th where he followed up a good effort with the driver with a nine-iron that did more than he might have expected it to. On the next hole, he shot another birdie.

Four under after only three holes, anything seemed possible. But, although he shot four more birdies he lost a stroke apiece on the 13th and 17th.

``I could not have asked for a better start to the new season. Everything worked very well for me today. I hope I can continue like this,'' said Pappan.

Bunty Randhawa, in the same group as Pappan, played some inspired golf himself. Bunty was a name to reckon with on the Indian scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s and he has always enjoyed playing on this course where he once won with a two-digit margin.

Today Bunty had six birdies, five of them on his last five holes, from No. 5 to No. 9. He lost a stroke each on the first and 10th holes.

Mukesh Kumar, for his part, started with a 30-ft birdie on the first hole and played wonderfully steady golf shooting four more birdies and may well have finished five under but for the bogey on the last hole, the 18th.

Ranjit Singh from Chandigarh and Yusuf Ali from Kolkota shot rounds of three-under 69 to share the fourth place even as Mohd Islam from Patna ended up with a card of 70. Seven golfers turned in cards of one-under 71.

Among the amateurs, C.V. Yudvir, after a round of 73, enjoys a one-stroke lead over Gurunath Meiyappan. Sandeep Syal (76) is in third place.

Leading pro scores: 66: Pappan; 68: Bunty Randhawa, Mukesh Kumar; 69: Ranjit Singh, Yusuf Ali; 70: Mohd Islam; 71: Ajay Gupta, Basad Ali, Chini, Gast Ram, Mohd Maqbool, Randhir Ghotra, Vinod Kumar.

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