India Championship: Indian golfers Chouhan, Talwar make confident start on rain-marred opening day

New Delhi: On the rain-affected first day of the US$ 4 million India Championship, Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard emerged clubhouse leader with a six-under 66 even as two PGTI stars made a confident start in India's biggest golf event.

Om Prakash Chouhan, a winner on the PGTI Tour this year, kept the tricolour flying after posting a gallant four-under 68 punctuated by six birdies and two bogeys to be the best-placed Indian as he was tied fifth in the clubhouse.

Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood of England and World No. 2 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot scores of two-under. India’s Saptak Talwar, the current PGTI Order of Merit leader, too made a positive start with three birdies and two bogeys in his round of one-under 71.

Overcast skies in the morning gave way to a light drizzle and lightning threats that resulted in the stoppage of play at 11 am local time. A heavy downpour followed thereafter, extending the stoppage to four hours and fifty minutes. Play finally resumed at 4 pm.

As a result, only the morning session featuring half the field consisting of 72 players could complete the round on Thursday.

Om Prakash Chouhan, a former PGTI Order of Merit champion and a winner on the HotelPlanner Tour, played some great approach shots through the day to set up most of his birdies as he landed them with pinpoint accuracy on the greens. The 40-year-old, a winner of 12 professional titles, made a stupendous recovery from the rough to salvage a birdie on the eighth.

However, the highlight of Chouhan’s round was his chip-in from 15 yards for birdie on the sixth. Currently ranked seventh on the PGTI Order of Merit, Chouhan said, “I’m very satisfied with my effort considering the conditions and the long stoppage that we had to endure. Before the rain, the greens were firm, and the ball was rolling out, so I had to think carefully about whether to attack the flags. After the rain, I could be more aggressive.

“I found a lot of fairways today, and that set up my second shots. My local knowledge and experience of playing at the Delhi Golf Club for so many years obviously helped.

“I changed my putter recently, and that reflected in my good putting today. I’m carrying my driver in the bag but don’t really intend to use it,” he said.

Saptak Talwar looked back on his round, saying, “Felt like I was rolling the putts well. Just a couple of misreads here and there that I thought were good chances to make a couple of more birdies. But overall, I think I'm pleased with the start.

“I think I'm most excited about trying to build on one round after the other. If I can tidy up a few things around the greens, I feel I can look forward to a good week,” he added.

Among the other Indians, Manu Gandas was one-under after one hole, Anirban Lahiri was even-par through five holes, Khalin Joshi was even-par through three holes, while Amardeep Malik and Kartik Singh were both even-par through one hole.

Manoj S and Veer Ahlawat completed their rounds with scores of 73 and 74, respectively. Shubhankar Sharma was two-over after having played five holes.

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