GURGAON, APRIL 18: Rookie pro, Digvijay Singh, who won his maiden title at the recent BPGC Open in Bombay, went into the lead with a brilliant five-under 67 on the opening day of the Rs. 12-lakh J Hampstead Open golf tournament, at the par-72, 7070-yard, DLF Golf and Country Club today.
Jointly placed second at three-under 69, are Amit Dube, amateur Ashok Kumar, Uttam Singh Mundy, Shiv Prakash, SSP Chowrasia and G S Sethi.
The Meerut-based Digvijay posted birdies on the third, fifth, sixth and seventh on an error-free front-nine to sit pretty at four-under before making the turn. Three-putting from 12 feet, for his only bogey of the day on the 14th, the golfer added birdies on the 15th and 18th to finish at five-under 67 for the day. "I missed birdie chances on the first, fourth, eighth, tenth and 17th holes, each not more than 6-8 feet in distance," said Digvijay.
Amit Dubey finally did justice to the enormous talent his game boasts of returning with a card of three-under 69.
Amateur Ashok Kumar, gave yet another display of his prodigious talent. Teeing off from the 10th, the 17-year-old, had a dream front-nine, birdying the 12th and 14th and sinking a fine eagle with a well placed driver, 6-iron combination to sit pretty at four-under. Losing his touch a bit on the back-nine, Ashok bogeyed the first, seventh and eighth with a face saving eagle on the 6th, handing him a score of three-under 69.
Shiv Prakash used all his experience to tally birdies on the 11th, 14th, 17th, and sixth, interspersed by a bogey on the fourth.
Uttam Singh Mundy, winner of two Honda-Siel PGA championships returnedbirdies on the 11th, 15th and 18th, third and sixth. He also dropped shots on the second and 12th.
Ashok Kumar lead the amateur field with a three-under 67 while Manav Das, Jaideep Patwardhan and Simarjeet Singh were joint second at two-over 74.
Scores: 67-Digvijay Singh, 69-Amit Dube, Shiv Prakash, uttam Mundy, G S Sethi, SSP Chowrasia, Shamim Khan, KPS Sekhon.
Amateurs: 69- Ashok Kumar, 74- Manav das, Simarjeet Singh, Jaideep Patwardhan.