Indian Open: Yannik Paul tops leaderboard, Baisoya leads the way on good day for Indians

There were some exceptions – Germany’s Yannik Paul had a brilliant flourish in the end, hitting four successive birdies in the final four holes to top the leaderboard by finishing seven under par. But for the most part, those unfamiliar with this challenging course, struggled.

With testing conditions with the wind picking up in the second half of the day, the experienced Indian contingent were able to take advantage of those struggles.

Honey Baisoya, a regular here given his sponsorship with DLF, was second on the leaderboard by hitting 66 and finishing six under par. The Delhi-based 26-year-old hit eight birdies, but one double bogey – on the 14th hole – which he felt was his only error of the round. “That’s how DLF is, if you make one bad shot, you’re going to come up with a bogey or even a double,” he told media later.

The 16th, 17th, and 18th holes at this course have been spoken about with a fair bit of caution all week. Baisoya, like Paul after him, managed them well, with two pars and a birdie, but warned that it required some attention to detail.

“You really need to focus on these three holes in particular,” he said. “. My goal was just to keep the ball in play (smiles), keep it on the center of the green, and get the putts going.”

Course record-holder Shubhankar Sharma was tied-four on the day, after his four under par score was equalled by Angad Cheema. Shubhankar, the highest-ranked Indian in the event, was pleased with his back nine, but regretted some of his early holes.

“Sometimes you don’t make too many mistakes, but even good shots don’t get the result and that happened a couple of times with me on the back nine (front nine for him since he teed-off from the 10th) where I made two bogeys, but I was playing well,” he said.

“The course is playing tough. And as the wind has picked up, it hasn’t been easy.”

When asked, Baisoya had a pretty clear-cut response as to why the Indians had succeeded in Gurugram on day one: “Because we play here a lot (laughs). I come here every day. So I play every day on this golf course.”

Eyes were also focused on Manu Gandas, the 26-year-old topper of the PGTI Order of Merit after winning six successive titles last year. Manu got his round off to a solid start, hitting three birdies on the front nine, before falling off to hit 70 and finish two under par.