Gangjee lies fifth,Jeev ninth at Singapore Golf

Jeev,showing tremendous resilience in playing through a pain barrier and armed with “renewed confidence” in his game,brought home a five-under 66,which could have been slightly better but for the only flaw of the day – a bogey on the 18th.

He was tied for ninth with 12 others,including an amateur.

Gangjee and Jeev’s showings were among a string of low scores at the Tanjong Course,where Edoardo Molinari and James Morrison blazed through with a nine-under 62 each. Both had 10 birdies — Molinari had six on the back nine — against one bogey each.

There were four other Indians with sub-par rounds as Anirban Lahiri (69) was 54th and Chiragh Kumar,Himmat Rai and SSP Chowrasia carded 70 each to be tied 81st. Things were not too good the rest as Shiv Kapur was one-over 72 in 126th and Jyoti Randhawa,Gaganjeet Bhullar,Mukesh Kumar,Rashid Khan and Digvijay Singh shot 73 each to be tied 140th in the 204-player field.

Ashok Kumar shot 74 while Gaurav Ghei (78),Sujjan Singh (78) and Manav Jaini (80) may well have shot themselves out of the tournament.

Gangjee,who spent the entire season traveling and playing on the Nationwide for 25 weeks,said,“The American experience has toughened me. I am looking forward to going back next year and build on all that I learnt this year. The way I played was a result of all the hard knocks one has to face on a tough tour like in the US.”

Gangjee said that today’s round was a flawless one.

“I hit the ball well and found almost all the greens. I did take a bit of time to adjust to the greens,but fortunately gave away no three-putts. It would have been nice to hole a few more inside 10 feet or so,but I will take a six-under,” he added.

Gangjee had his first birdie on the fourth and then three in a row from sixth to eighth. He added two more on 12th and 14th but said,“I should have got at least one or two more in the last four holes.”

Gangjee senior India teammate,Jeev was in pain,after injuring his ankle sometime during the Pro-Am yesterday.

“It started hurting all of a sudden yesterday. This morning Philipa (the physio) taped it but I still felt a lot of pain. I was hurting today. I was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t swing the club. I had to take a pain killer after 12 holes. I couldn’t release and couldn’t go on to the left side. I just wanted to get the round over with,” said Jeev.

“I have been playing with a lot of confidence in my game over the last few weeks. The scores have been coming and I now need to string them all together. I hit it well today except for the last hole where I didn’t hit the drive well for bogey. At least I’ll get in some work done. Will give it a go tomorrow,” Jeev said.

Jeev was particularly happy with his putting.

“I hit well but putting was really good. I holed a big 30-footer for eagle on the sixth and another long one (15-18 foot) on the 16th. I have been very focused,and hopefully,the positive memories will serve me well,” Jeev said referring to his famous 2008 Singapore Open win at Serapong. Asia’s first and only Major champion,Yang Young-eun of Korea came back with a error-free 63. Korea’s Lee Sung-Man,who was six-under through first eight holes,ended at six-under registering two birdies and two bogeys after that.

He was one behind Molinari and Morrison.

The top-30 had just four scores coming in from the more demanding Serapong Course and one of them was a local amateur,Zhiqun Lam (66).

Anirban Lahiri (69),winner of Panasonic Open (India),sank two late birdies on 16th and 18th to finish at two-under after earlier having two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine at the Tanjong.

Himmat Rai,who won the ISPS Handa Classic in Singapore two months ago,and SSP Chowrasia,winner of the Avantha Masters in February,carded a one-under 70,including an eagle and a double bogey,at the Tanjong. Late in the evening Chiragh Kumar (70) too carded one-under at Tanjong.

Daniel Chopra shot four-under 67 despite two late bogeys on 16th and 17th at the Tanjong,while Sri Lankan Mithun Perera who plays on the Indian Tour,shot an excellent three-under 68 on the difficult Serapong Course. Kunal Bhasin shot 76 at the Serapong.