Gurgaon, September 16: On the first day of the LG Golden Greens Amateur, Abhinav Lohan carded the best round with a five under par 67 to charge ahead of the field. Abhinav shot the lone under par round of the day with the second best score being five strokes behind at even par.
There were as many as six people tied for second position including Rashid Khan and Abhishek Jha. LG Order of Merit list leader Gagan Verma failed to make an impact on the first day but was within striking distance with a round of two over par 74 which left him tied for 12th place.
This was not the first time Abhinav got the distinction of being the only player under par in the entire field. Earlier in the year, he registered the only under par round at the LG Coimbatore Open Amateur. His final round one under par 71 was the only under par round through the entire tournament.
With an early start to the round, Abhinav got off to a blistering start with a score of five under after the completion of the front nine. But an average back nine meant he had to settle for a final score of 67.Talking about his round Abhinav said "I played the front nine very well but I got anxious on the back nine. That affected my scoring and I could not maintain my momentum". It could have been an even better round for Abhinav but for two missed opportunities on the 7th and 11th where he missed short putts for birdie.
L. Selvadurai shone through in his bright Sergio Garcia like pants to card the second best round of the day, an even par 72. Reflecting on his round he said "It is a very tight course and I was very pleased with my performance". But Selvadurai would have to put in another good round tomorrow to pull ahead of the crowd as there are many others tied for the second place alongside him including Rashid Khan.
Rashid started off in fine fashion but on the par-3 8th, his game unraveled before one could say Jack Nicklaus. A tee shot into the bunker, a poor bunker shot, a flyer from the rough and a three putt meant he had pretty much given back to the course what he got from it. A sedate back nine meant that he finished even par for the day.
Most of the big guns on tour would look to make a move tomorrow towards the top of the leaderboard while Abhinav would try to further the distance between him and the rest of the field