Teen star Kartik Singh shines in fading light on opening day of IGPL Delhi NCR

Kartik Singh im action. 

Rakesh Thapliyal

Greater Noida: Teenaged Kartik Singh, who made his professional debut just a week ago, glowed brightly in the fading light on the opening day at the IGPL Invitational Delhi NCR hosted by Gaurav Ghei.

The 16-year-old, who was Tied-eighth last week, promised bigger things with an opening 4-under 68 in rather difficult scoring conditions. It was a day which saw a nearly three-hour interruption due to rain accompanied by threats of lightning.

Kartik, 5-under through 17, finished with a bogey. At 4-under he was one shot clear of the field.

Three players, Tushar Pannu, Veer Ganapathy and Aalaap IL were tied for second place at 3-under. Pannu, a first year professional, fired a bogey free 3-under 69 and last week’s third-place finisher, teenaged Veer Ganapathy, finished birdie-birdie. Aalaap, 4-under through 17, closed with a bogey.

Another left-hander Kartik Sharma finished at 2-under alongside Karandeep Kochhar (70).

Kapil Kumar, who showed up prominently on the leaderboard last week in Chandigarh was seventh at 71 alongside the experienced Sachin Baisoya.

Last week’s champion, Gaganjeet Bhullar, the consistent M Dharma, new rookie Raghav Chugh, Saarthak Chibber and Pukhraj Singh Gill were tied in ninth place at even par.

Local amateur, Arshvant Srivastava playing his first big event alongside top professionals, showed no signs of nervousness. Starting in the first group from the tenth, the 16-year-old played fast and beat the rain as he finished before the stoppage. He birdied early on the 11th but bogeyed the 17th.

Into his second nine he birdied the second to get to 1-under. Then came a lapse as he bogeyed the 12th and double bogeyed the Par-5 13th. He bounced back with a birdie on the 14th and closed with four pars for a one-over 73 and was the top amateur at ied-14th, alongside the Top women, Amandeep Drall and Durga Nittur.

Kartik Singh had a roller-coaster of a front nine. He began with a bogey but got that shot back on the very next hole, the Par-5 second. He birdied the fifth and added one more gain on the seventh, but again gave back a shot on the ninth. He turned in 1-under but felt was playing well.

The shy Kartik said, “I was 2-under when the stoppage came. Actually, I just putted out the birdie on the 11th exactly when play was stopped.”

On resumption, Kartik showed no lapse in concentration, as he picked three birdies in a row from the 13th to the 15th, picking one shot each on the Par 4, Par-3 and Par-5 holes, playing each hole with great skill and maturity, “That was a good run, and I was 5-under. On the 18th I went into the rough and then into bunker. I left my par putt short to about 12 feet and missed. Overall, I played quite well in the conditions.”

Ganapathy opened with a bogey on the first but got he shot back on the next and did that again with a bogey-birdie on the fourth and the fifth. Four pars followed and then came a birdie on the 11th.

“After played resumed I had some good pars on the back nine and the last two holes were great. I birdied from just over 12 feet on the 17th and hit my approach to three feet for a closing birdie. That felt really good,” said the big built youngster, who was followed by his father, Rahul Ganapathy, a former pro on the Indian Tour.

Pannu had a bogey free round after starting from the tenth. The 21-year-old Haryana golfer birdied two of the Par-5s on the 15th and the fourth and his third birdie came on the par-3 seventh.

Aalaap, who had a stellar amateur career, was 4-undet through 17 holes and then had to wait for almost three hours to finish his 18th hole, which he unfortunately bogeyed to finish 3-under.

Kochhar (70), one of the star players of the IGPL Tour, got off to a fair start. After missing the first event because of his participation on the Asian circuit, where he has had two Top-20s in recent weeks.

Three-time winner on the Asian Tour Shiv Kapur, Sunhit Bishnoi and Aman Raj were also tied 14th.

The rains left the greens soft and the rough became tougher. The mudballs from the rough made things tough for the golfers, as only eight players shot under par and only 13 par or better.