Tough going for amateur golfers on Day One of NCR Cup

Wazir managed to continue playing despite getting hit by his partner’s ball at the 11 th hole. He had started strongly,firing a birdie on the 1 st hole but then conceded a bogey on the subsequent hole. His summary of a good round turned disappointing as birdies on the 3 rd ,8 th ,and 18 th holes were eventually negated by bogeys on the 5th,7th and 12th holes. However Wazir,the nephew of the first Indian to win the Indian Open golf tournament,Ali Sher,is confident of improving further into the contest.

The 27-year-old Wazir explains,”People started calling me second Ali Sher because it was on his insistence that I took up the game. I had started well by becoming the no. 1 junior of the country but unfortunately,I had to leave the game because of a fracture in my foot for 6 years,but I am happy that I am back and hopefully will be turning pro by the end of this year and hope to make my family proud,” he says.

While Wazir has literally grown up on the course,the other leader,Thangaraja was playing at the Delhi Golf Club for the first time in his career. Making the most of whatever experience he could have gained in Monday’s practice session,he returned with 2 birdies on 9 th and 14th. However the confusion in reading the distance on the fairways made Thangaraja hit two bogeys on 7th and 17th,thereby ending with level par round. After the round he said,

Angad Cheema who was the runners-up in the last edition of the NCR Cup,admitted that the course played a lot tougher than he had expected. “I played very decent golf today but I realized that if you miss one good tee shot on this course,you are going to drop atleast 2-3 bad shots,” he said. Cheema who was a shot below par after the front nine,thanks to a bogey on the fifth hole,had a disastrous back stretch compiling bogeys in the 10th,14 th and 16 th. However he managed a birdie on his 18 th hole to remain in contention for the top spot on Wednesday.

ONGC leads team event

In the international team championship played concurrently,ONGC was in lead with Angad Cheema (73) and Saurabh Bahuguna (74) contributing to the team total of 147 while Oil India stood second,represented by Ashbeer Singh Saini (75) and Honey Baisoya (73) totalling 148 in a tie along with PSPB,with Jasjeet Singh (74) and Gagan Verma (74) taking the total to 148. Sri Lanka was the best foreign team to finish with 5th position at 155.