Vijay Kumar takes lead

Vijay Kumar dished out a stunning score of 7-under 65 to take lead on the opening day of the Rs 600,000 Tiger Sports Marketing Open, the seventh leg of the Wills Sport Golf Tour, being played at the par 72, 6,129 yards Aravalli Golf Club.

S.S.P Chaurasia was placed second at 6-under 66, while the joint third spot was occupied by Vishal Singh, Basad Ali and Pappan who each had a score of 4-under 68. Mukesh Kumar, Shiv Prakash, Dinesh Kumar and Sanjay Kumar were placed joint sixth at 3-under 66. At joint 10th spot were Gurki Shergill, Vinod Kumar (D) and Pappan at 2 under 70. Veteran golfer Rohtas Singh, playing on his home course, carded a level par 72.

Vijay Kumar took an opening round lead for the fourth time in seven events so far this season. The 'Big Bull' of Indian golf, made but one error on the 13th where he dropped a shot. The rest of his round was a revaliation of the leading prize-money winner for the past three seasons on the Wills Sport Golf Tour. He birdied the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th and 18th hole on his way to his seven under card.

"It was a bad seven," he said in typical Vijay Kumar fashion. The Lucknow based golfer was peeved at the fact that he has missed easy birdie chances on the 2nd, 3rd and 6th hole. "I have taken the lead four times now in seven events but have won only one. I will be working on changing this piece of statistics," said Vijay.

SSP Chaurasia used his short game to good effect to surge ahead of the field on the opening day. Aptly nickname 'Chip Putt Chawrasia', the diminutive Calcuttan despite finding the water hazard with his first shot of the day and subsequently dropping a shot on the hole, failed to get fazed by it. Without wasting time, he carded a hat-trick of the birdies on the 2nd, 3rd , and 4th , following it up with another on the 6th, before wrapping up his outward journey with back-to-back birdies on the 8th and 9th. A bogey on the 11th, courtesy his only bad chip of the day, preceded birdies on the 13th and 17th .

"My putting fell into place today and that was the key to my success," said the joint runner up of '99 Indian Open who recorded 23 putts and 13 regulations in his day's round.

Basad Ali is one golfer who almost, always finishes in the top-ten but whose consistency has failed to fetch him enough wins of late. Today Basad was on fire, carding as many as eight birdies. The Calcuttan missed a five feet eagle putt on the 3rd to card his first birdie of the day. This was followed by a double-hat-trick of birdies on the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. Three more birdies on the 12th, 13th and 16th with bogeys on the 1st, 10th, 9th and 18th, adorned his opening round card of four-under 68.

"When my putting clicks, I click," said Basad after returning 26 putts and 16 regulations for the day.

Vishal Singh played like he did when he won the Shell Aravalli Open at this very venue last year. The Jaipur based golfer birdied the 4th, 12th,15th 16th and 17th holes, carded as eagle on the 8th, where after his driver placed him on the edge of the green, he chipped in form over 50 yards and dropped shots on the 5th, 10th and 13th.

"I feel I will win," he said.

The Delhi based Pappan started the day with two pared holes, before back-to-back birdies on the 3rd and 4th placed him at two-under after four holes. Two more birdies followed on the 7th and 9th to place the golfer at four-under before making the turn. On his back-nine Pappan dropped a shot on the 10th before carding consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th. He ended his round with a dropped shot on the 18th. "I had a great round," said Pappan.

Defending Champion, Mukesh Kumar did not let his bogey start effect him much with birdies on the 2nd, 5th, where he chipped in from 20ft, 8th and 9th, placing him at 3-under at a half way stage. Bogeys on the 12th and 14th were nullified by birdies on the 15th and 16th. "I played well but my putting requires some working on," said the Mhow based golfer who won this event last year with the Wills Sport Golf Tour with the record breaking tally of 20-under.

Shiv Prakash birdied the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th, 12th and 17th hole with a bogey on the 11th hole and a double bogey on the 5th completing his day’s card. "I played well and my feel and confidence are right up there," he said.

Parmar leads Amateur field: G.S. Parmar carded a seven over 79 to lead the amateur field. H.K Singh was the second placed amateur at 11 over 83.

SCORES : 65_Vijay Kumar; 66_Shiv Shankar Prasad Chourasia; 68_ Basad Ali, Vishal Singh, Pappan; 69_Mukesh Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Shiv Prakash; 70_Gurkee Shergill, Jumman, Vinod Kumar (D); 71_Shamim Khan, Balbir Verma, K.P.S. Sekhon, G.S Sethi, Gaurav Ghei, Ranjit Singh, Dinesh Raghuvanshi. Amateurs : 79_G.S. Parmar; 83_H.K Singh; 90_Anand Mehta