Mukesh leads Servo golf at four-under 68

Mukesh Kumar edged one step closer to becoming the first ever golfer to record a hat-trick of victories on the Wills Sport Golf Tour when he carded a four-under 68, to take lead after the opening round of the Rs 850,000 Servo Masters Golf 2000, being played at the par-72, 6,309-yard Digboi Club Golf Links in Digboi, on Wednesday.

As many as six golfers occupied the joint second spot three strokes behind the leader at one-under 71, including defending champion Rohtas Singh, Shiv Prakash, Rafiq Ali, Harmeet Kahlon, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia and Mohammed Khokhan.

Mukesh is enjoying a purple patch and to his credit it must be said that the Mhow-based golfer is making the best of it. A 10th tee starter on Wednesday, Mukesh, played his front-nine to three-under with birdies on the 14th, 16th and 17th. However, all the good work was undone by a double bogey and bogey start to his return journey. On the par-4 first, Mukesh visited every conceivable hazard present before finally two-putting from ten feet to drop two shots. The following hole, a par-3 penalised him for a poor tee shot.

"The double bogey and bogey left me a bit shaken but all the hard work I put into the mental aspect of my game in the off season paid off when I needed it most," said last season's 'Player of the Year' award winner who proceeded to birdie the third, fifth, seventh and ninth holes. "The course is playing great," added the winner of this season's ONGC-NGC Open and Surya Nepal Masters.

Rohtas had a bad start to his round with dropped shots on the fist and second. Despite recovering with back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth, Rohtas finished his front-nine at two-over, courtesy three more bogeys and a birdie. Rediscovering his touch after making the turn, he birdied the 12th, 13th and 16th to end the day with a respectable score.

"I just had a bit of bad luck in my front nine. Nothing to worry about. I am playing fine," said Rohtas.

Shiv Prakash, much like Rohtas, had a bogey-bogey start to his round. Entering his back-nine at one-over thanks to a birdie on the third, Shiv went on to bogey the tenth before carding three more birdies.

"I am here to win and that's what I will try to do," said the Kanpur based golfer, currently the leader of the prize-money list for the 2000-2001 season.

Harmeet Kahlon, an Oil Indian employee, played his front-nine to two-over, with three bogeys and a birdie on his 9th highlighting his midway card. A hat-trick of birdies from the 13th onwards, saved the day for him.

"I have played on this course eight times and know what to do to win here," said Harmeet who was quiet satisfied with the way he played on Wednesday.

Tuesday's Pro-am winner, Calcutta's SSP Chowrasia had four birdies and three bogeys which included a bogey-birdie (holes 17th & 18th) finish to his round.

"I was tentative early on, but once I got the hang of the green, I was fine," said the joint-runner-up at the '99 Indian Open.

Rafiq Ali carded three bogeys and two birdies on his outward journey. Three birdies and one bogey on his back-nine, undid the damage.

"I am playing good shots but my short game is a bit of a bother as of now," said the winner of the Ford MGC Open, Chennai earlier this season.

Mohd. Khokhan had birdies on the 14th and 18th and a bogey on the 16th.

Baruah leads amateur field: Local golfer Ajay Baruah led the amateurs with a score of seven-over 79. At second place was SP Pradhan at nine-over 81.

SCORES (After 18 holes): 68 _ Mukesh Kumar; 71 _ Rohtas Singh, Shiv Prakash, Harmeet Kahlon, Rafiq Ali, SSP Chowrasia, Mohd. Khokhan; 72 _ Monish Bindra, Sanjay Kumar, Yusuf Ali; 73 _ Asgar Ali, Feroz Ali, Rahul Ganapathy, Ramesh Kumar, Ranjit Singh