Arjun Singh sets new course record

CHANDIGARH, OCT. 10. Arjun Singh set a new course record with his superbly complied round of seven-under-par 65 to take the opening day's lead at the Rs. 10 lakh Hero Golf 2001 Chandigarh Open at the Chandigarh Golf Club course here on Wednesday.

Arjun's effort erased the name of Kolkata's Basad Ali, who had the record of 66.

Chandigarh's K.S. Sibia was two strokes behind the leader with Delhi's Pappan (69) in the third position.

Arjun was in superb form as he made seven birdies. He birdied the fourth and sixth on his outward journey before returning to blast for successive birdies on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th and another on the 16th on his back nine. ``Everything clicked for me today,'' said Arjun Singh, whose only other appearance on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour this season came at the Hero Honda South Open in Bangalore in August.

Sibia was the surprise package of the day. He returned a picture perfect card with as many as five birdies in it. His birdie holes were the second, eighth, ninth, 13th and 18th.

Pappan's opening round card was error free. Playing his front nine to par, he went on to birdie the 11th, 13th and 18th on his return journey. ``After playing the Sher-e-Kashmir Open, it was a bit tough adjusting to these greens which are a lot slower. But it the greens play true as they do here, you soon get used to the place,'' Pappan said after returning 29 putts for his round.

lThe scores: Arjun Singh 65; K.S. Sibia 67; Pappan 69; D.S. Raghuvanshi, Harmeet Kahlon, Vinod Kumar 70; Feroz Ali, Rajiv Kumar, Shiv Prakash 71; Amandeep Johl, Digvijay Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Rahil Gangjee, Rejwan Ali, Rohtas Singh, Roop Singh 72.

Amateurs: Grish Virk 70; H.S. Kang 72; Gurbaaz Mann 73.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Tiger turns author, reveals secrets behind his
           success
Next     : Karun makes it to British F-3