First days on golf courses can be tricky. For those with an eye on the expected names, it was again stalking horses who ran away with the show. Shamim Khan had faded into oblivion after a tied 4th at the halfway mark last week at the Indian Open. The Delhi Golf Club native traversed the city map and found the lost treasure again, leading at the PGTI Bilt Open on Day One with a bogey-less, six-under at the Jaypee Greens today. Gaurav Pratap Singh, another far less experienced Delhi player, followed a shot behind, with last year’s runner-up Singaporean Lam Chih-bing in tow at third. Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh, Shankar Das, Mandeo Singh Pathania and SSP Chowrasia —all three-under—shared the fourth spot. Gaurav Ghei, the star that failed to shine on the first day, had talked about his concerns with putting and he was spot on with the prediction. He ended on a frustrating one-over, clearly out of sorts and tied 32nd. For veteran Shamim, it’s been a start he’ll remember. Hitting the fairways with the drives—despite a windy day —he was flawless around the greens too, making no mistakes with the putts. “My short game was good today. I made some four-five footers that gave me the birdies and that was satisfying,” he said. Teeing off from the 10th, he had his six birdies neatly halved in the two nines of the course. Pratap Singh turned pro last season—missing five cuts— but his second season has begun on the right note. “To see your name on the leaderboard gives so much satisfaction, that people can see the hard work that I put in during off season. I’d just planned to hit regulations today, and that worked,” said the 23-year-old. Playing on a course he lives next to, it’s not surprising the right theory turned into the right result. But if not for the putts that stayed short on the 3rd and the13th, he could’ve been the leader on the day—he got seven birdies. “You make some putts and you miss some, I’ll just try to keep the second count low tomorrow,” he said, preferring to count the gains instead. Last year’s Order of Merit winner Ashok Kumar shot one-under to be tied 16th with four others.Leaderboard (after 18 holes)66 — Shamim Khan; 67 — Gaurav Pratap Singh; 68 — Lam Chih-bing; 69 — Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh, SSP Chowrasia, Shankar Das, Mandeo Singh Pathania 70 — Craig McLean, Harmeet Kahlon, Tze Shyan Lu, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, Feroz Ali Mollah, Neil Ashok Mudra; 71 — Ashok Kumar, Jaiveer Virk, Sujjan Singh, Vishal Singh, Chiragh Kumar.
