*Yuvraj, Arjun in joint lead on Day one
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 7: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, RR Bhatnagar declared open J&K Open Golf tournament at Jammu Tawi Golf Course (JTGC) in presence of a galaxy of professional golfers and other dignitaries, here today.
After inaugurating the 2nd edition of Professional Golf tournament of India (PGTI), being organised in association with Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department, the Advisor Bhatnagar said that it is the first time a professional golf tournament is being organised at Jammu after the first edition which was organised at Srinagar earlier.
“The tournament will boost golf tourism as well as tourism in general in Jammu and Kashmir as everyone knows that J&K is a preferred tourism location at not only in India but all across the world,” Bhatnagar said, adding that we expect that event like this not only increase footfall in the Union Territory but also give a big boost to the Tourism sector of J&K.
On the first day of the tournament, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Arjun Prasad were joint lead at the end of first round. On a high-scoring day which produced only nine under-par scores, Chandigarh man Yuvraj and Delhi native Arjun, who were playing in the same group in round one, carded three-under 69 to lead the 126-man field by a margin of one shot.
The five players tied in the third place at two-under 70 were Delhi’s Shamim Khan, Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta, Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi, Lucknow’s Sanjeev Kumar and Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain.
Among the prominent names, Rashid Khan (72) was tied 10th, Udayan Mane (73) was tied 19th, defending champion Honey Baisoya (74) was tied 26th and Manu Gandas (75) was tied 32nd.
Bhawani Singh Parmar (78) of Jammu was the best-placed among the professionals from J&K as he occupied tied 55th position.
Sandhu, currently second on the PGTI Order of Merit, began the week with a bogey on the 10th but fought back with five birdies thereafter including a chip-in on the 17th, two good chip-putts and a 12-feet conversion on the seventh. Sandhu finally closed the round with a bogey on the ninth.
Prasad, who was Sandhu’s playing partner on Wednesday, had a birdie and bogey each on the back-nine. Prasad, who came up with some quality wedge shots through the day, closed the round with a flurry of birdies on the fifth, eighth and ninth.
Prasad’s birdie on the last was a result of his fabulous second shot from 185 yards that landed within three feet of the pin.
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