Mukesh, Ali Sher jointly lead the Hero Honda Open

Mukesh Kumar continued his dominance on the Indian Tour by perching himself atop the leader-board along-side Delhi’s Ali Sher after the opening round of the Rs 10-lakh Hero Honda Golf Open – Pune 2002 being played at the par-71, Poona Club Golf (Ltd.) in Pune on Wednesday.

The leaders tallied two-under 69 apiece. The event is the 15th leg of the 2001-02 season’s Hero Honda Golf Tour.

The dangerous trio of Lucknow’s Vijay Kumar, defending champion Kolkata’s Feroz Ali and Meerut’s Digvijay Singh was tied-third, one-stroke behind the leaders at one-under 70.

Tied sixth at level-par 71 were Mohd Salim (Kolkata), Rajesh Choudhary (Mhow), Roop Singh (Chandigarh), SSP Chowrasia (Kolkata) and Sanjay Kumar (Lucknow). Arjun Singh (Delhi) returned a one-over 72 and was tied-11th while Vivek Bhandari carded a 78 and was tied-64th.

Nobody has dominated the Indian Tour as Mukesh Kumar, who has won the Player of the Year award winner twice, has done this season. He has earned in excess of Rs 11 lakhs and looks good for 11 more.

On Wednesday, the Mhow based golfer once again barged into the limelight in quest of this fourth title of the season. "I aim to win as many tournaments as I can this year," said Mukesh, who has won at the TNGF Open (Chennai), Sher-e-Kashmir Open (Srinagar) and the Servo Masters (Digboi) thus far this season.

Mukesh’s first Pro-Tour round of the new-year began with a par-bogey sequence. Undeterred, the 33-year old golfer birdied the final hole of his outward journey. His back-nine saw him essay birdies on the 11th, 16th and 18th with his second bogey of the day coming on the 17th. “I credit my round to my putting,” said the golfer who returned 24 putts for the day.

"I have adjusted very well to the pace of these greens and my hitting is extremely satisfactory. Pune is like a second home to me as my brother (Dinesh Raghuvanshi) lives here.

I am completely relaxed when playing here and that will certainly translate into a good performance," added the current Order of Merit leader.

Ali Sher must be a relieved man. For one who was one of the leading stars of Indian golf, Ali has been having a very ordinary time for the past three years. Indeed his last win came at the Business Today Pro-Am last year, before which he won the Le Meridien Gokarna Open on his home course way back in October 1998.

"Age catches up with the best of us and added to that, a number of talented golfers have joined the Tour of late. The standards have definitely improved but I know I can still compete and win," said the Delhi Golf Club pro in typical fashion.

Ali Sher’s round began with a bogey. Much like Mukesh, he erased the error with a birdie on the 8th to enter his return journey at level-par. Thereafter he birdied the 11th and 15th to end the day at 69. "Golf is all about feel. My feel has finally returned. I have not played so well in months and from the looks of it I think I will do well this week," said the twice-Indian Open winner.

Defending champion Feroz Ali did his title defense hopes no harm with birdies on the 5th, 7th, 12th and 18th overshadowing his bogeys on the 3rd, 6th and 16th. "I hit the ball really long today," said Feroz who overshot the greens on several occasions. ‘The problem is with my putting. I missed a couple a three footers today which cost me the lead,” he added.

Vijay Kumar, winner of the Royal Challenge Grand Prix, Noida in end December, made full use of his newly discovered form.

Overcoming a poor front nine which included a bogey on the 3rd, a double bogey on the 5th and a solitary birdie on the 8th, Vijay went on the fire in birdies on the 10th, 12th and 18th on is return journey.

"I am suffering from a sort of flu and that has made me a bit week but I hope to be better tomorrow," said the thrice winner of the Order of Merit who credited his day’s round of 70 to his driving.

Nigade leads amateurs: Sachin Nigade assumed the lead among the amateurs with a one-over 72. Rajiv Datar was second two strokes behind at 74 while Aditya Kanitkar was third at 76.

SCORES
(after 18 holes): 69_Mukesh Kumar, Ali Sher: 70_Feroz Ali, Vijay Kumar, Digvijay Singh; 71_Mohd. Salim, Rajesh Choudhary, SSP Chowrasia, Roop Singh, Sanjay Kumar; 72_Arjun Singh, Jaiveer Virk, KPS Sekhon, Naman Dawar, Rohtas Singh Amateurs: 72_Sachin Nigade; 74_Rajiv Datar; 76_Aditya Kanitkar