Ali Sher roars again in SRF Open

Ali Sher, the lion of Delhi Golf Club, roared into contention on the opening day of the Rs 850,000 SRF Open on Tuesday, when he shot a three-under 69 to jointly lead the tournament along with Jyoti Randhawa and Indrajit Bhalotia.

At the par-72, 6,779-yard Delhi Golf Club course, Ali Sher could have taken an outright lead but for an unfortunate double bogey from the centre of the fairway on the par-4 16th hole. Despite the setback, he managed a birdie on the final hole for 69.

Amandeep Johl and Ranjit Singh of Chandigarh, Kolkata’s Yusuf Ali, Digvijay Singh of Meerut and Bhoop Singh of Lucknow were in tied fourth place at two-under 70. The reigning Hero Honda Masters champion Arjun Atwal brought in a one-under 71 and was placed joint 10th along with eight other players including Amritinder Singh and Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia.

Defending champion Feroz Ali returned a one-over 73, while Vijay Kumar, the current Order of Merit leader and champion in 1999, carded a four-over 76. Gaurav Ghei, making a comeback to professional golf after five months of injury layoff, did not do too badly in shooting a two-over 74.

Randhawa reconfirmed that the Delhi Golf Club was still his favourite hunting ground. Celebrating his return to the venue that brought him back-to-back Hero Honda Masters title wins (’98 & ’99), as well as the Honda-Siel Nike Golf Championship title late last year, he started the day with a regulation birdie on the first hole. A well-judged 25-feet birdie putt on the fifth brought the Gurgaon based golfer his second birdie before he made his two errors -- on the sixth and ninth holes -- where he made bogeys from the bunker.

On his return journey, Jyoti began the repair work with a birdie on the 11th. With his confidence back in place, the golfer sank a 15-feet putt for another birdie on the 15th, before finally ending his round with his fifth birdie of the day.

"Though I played well, I am still working on my swing," said the 2000 Indian Open winner. "Otherwise, there is little that went wrong today," he added.

Ali Sher took full advantage of playing his home course. The two-time Indian Open winner (‘91 & ’93), gave himself a good launching pad with birdies on the 1st, 5th and 7th with a solitary dropped shot on the 9th placing him at two-under at the half-way stage. Two more birdies on the 11th and 13th on his return journey placed him at four-under with five holes to go.

An unfortunate double bogey on the 16th notwithstanding a birdie finish to his round forced him to settle for the joint lead.

"I cut my 3-wood tee shot into the rough and despite recovering reasonably well, went on to three-putt from 25 feet on the green," said Ali Sher.

Bhalotia carved a place for himself in the limelight once again. The Wills Southern Open winner started off poorly with a bogey on the first after his tee shot placed him in the left bushes. Some more action occurred in his outward journey, including a 12 feet chipped in birdie putt on the 4th, which preceded a bogey on the 7th and back-to-back birdies on the 8th and 9th.

On his return journey, Bhalotia birdied the 11th, 14th and 15th and just when it looked like he would assume the sole lead at the end of the day’s play, he put his second shot in the left bushes to drop a shot on the 18th.

"I missed two four feet birdie putts today and then there was the incident on the final hole," said a dejected Bhalotia.

Ashok, Luthra lead amateurs: India's second ranked amateur Ashok Kumar, along with his mentor Amit Luthra, occupied the top spot among the amateurs at identical scores of two-under 70. At joint third spot was veteran Ashok Malik and youngster Rahil Gangjee at three-over 75.

SCORES (after 18 holes): 69 _ Ali Sher, Jyoti Randhawa, Indrajit Bhalotia; 70 _ Amandeep Johl, Ranjit Singh, Yusuf Ali, Digvijay Singh, Bhoop Singh; 71 _ Arjun Atwal, Amritinder Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Asgar Ali, Manohar Dike, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, Vinod Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Vishal Singh; Amateurs: 70 _ Ashok Kumar, Amit Luthra; 75 _ Ashok Malik, Rahil Gangjee