India’s Shamim Khan gave Indian golfing fans every reason to smile as he stamped his authority to claim the joint lead with a superb bogey-free 67 alongwith Argentina's Daniel Vancsik on the fairways and greens of the DLF golf course after the end of opening round of the Johnnie Walker Classic here on Thursday.
Khan emerged joint leader amidst some big names of the golfing world in the $2.5 million tournament, jointly sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours. Both of them carded an identical score of five-under-par 67s.
World number five Adam Scott and India's Jeev Milkha Singh with Rahil Gangjee descended into the 11-strong group to be at tied third one stroke behind on four-under-par 68, while three-time major winner Fiji’s Vijay Singh is tied 24th with a score of two under 70.
Shamim's stellar performance on Thursday comes as no surprise in the golfing circuit as he has been one of the most consistent performers on the PGTI circuit in the recent past.
Shamim had registered four top 10 finishes out of seven starts in the 2006-07 PGTI season and then followed that up with four more top 10 finishes out of five starts in the 2007-08 season.
Shamim, currently fifth on the PGTI Order of Merit for 2007-08, teed-off from the 10th and made the first of his five birdies on the 11th which was a 25 feet putt. His next two birdies came on the 16th and 18th holes.
Khan then made six pars in a row on the front nine before sinking his fourth birdie of the day on the seventh where he made another 25 feet putt. The Delhi based golfer signed off the day with another birdie on the ninth.
"I'm very pleased with my performance on the opening day. My putting stood out as I made a total of 24 putts. The chipping was also good," said Shamim after the end of first round play.
"It's not too difficult to read the line of the greens here. It's just a matter of making necessary adjustments," Shamim added.
Another title favourite from India, Jeev Milkha Singh ended round one on tied third thanks to a round of four under 68. Jeev was going great guns till the 15th hole as he had made birdies on the sixth, seventh, ninth, 10th, 11th and 15th to be six under.
But then the two consecutive bogeys on 16th and 17th pulled him few notches down on the leaderboard.
"I was playing pretty solid for the first 15 holes but then missed a short putt on the 16th and landed my approach in the hazard on the 17th. The 18th hole was also disappointing because I found the bunker with my third shot," said Jeev.
PGTI member Rahil Gangjee too joined Jeev in tied third, as he also carded a score of four under 68. Gangjee made birdies on the 10th, 17th, second, sixth and ninth and a lone bogey on the third.
Emaar-MGF Indian Masters champion SSP Chowrasia and young gun Gaganjeet Bhullar had a disappointing start as they are placed at tied 49th after firing identical scores of even par 72.
Arjun Atwal's score of three under 69 helped him end day one in tied 14th. Atwal started with a birdie on the 10th hole before dropping consecutive bogeys on the 11th and 12th. He came back well later with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th.
The double-winner on the European Tour, Atwal did not stop there as he picked up another birdies on the first and seventh.
Shiv Kapur (three under 69) joined Arjun Atwal in tied 14th place. Kapur's round was punctuated by birdies on the 13th, 14th, 18th, first and sixth and bogeys on the 12th and eighth.
PGTI member Arjun Singh (three under 69) finished round one in the same position as Kapur and Atwal. Singh sank birdies on the sixth, 10th, 14th, 15th and 18th and dropped bogeys on the first and 16th.
Three PGTI members, Gaurav Ghei, Jyoti Randhawa and Digvijay Singh fired rounds of 70 to occupy tied 24th position while PGTI member Ashok Kumar carded seven over 79 to be in tied 133rd position.
Among the host of international stars, Scotsman Colin Montgomerie currently occupies tied 90th place after shooting a two over 74 while Englishman Ian Poulter (four over 76) is further down at tied 115th.
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