Marcel Siem leads in India with a 64 - thanks to tips from 16-year-old girl

David Drysdale gets in groove with a 68

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Germany's Marcel Siem put his success down to an unlikely source after an eagle at his final hole led to an eight-under-par 64 and secured a one stroke lead after the opening round of the inaugural Avantha Masters at New Delhi, India.
The 29 year old, searching for only his second win on The European Tour, produced a flawless round that included six birdies before nailing an eagle putt from almost 20 feet on the ninth hole - his last - to edge ahead of the rest of the field.
And Siem admitted he had taken putting tips from a local 16-year-old female player to help deal with the difference between the greens in India and Europe.
“They are a bit grainy which can be difficult for the Europeans to adapt to sometimes, but I got a pretty good lesson from Vani Kapoor yesterday,” said Siem. “She is a young, 16-year-old scratch player, probably the best young female player in India and she was so aggressive on the greens and she showed me the way. I have to say that she was my putting inspiration and she is a very good player.”
Chinese Taipei's Chan Yin-shin also produced an eagle on the ninth and is just behind Siem in second place after signing for a seven under 65 at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
Siem's last victory on The European Tour came six years ago at the Dunhill Championship and he is hoping his impressive performance could signal a change in fortunes.
"I played very solid today, didn't make a bogey and then finished it off nicely with a great eagle at the last," he said. "The iron play was really good and I putted well. I cannot remember the last time that I shot 64 to be honest with you. It must be at least three years ago so I am pretty happy with that. It's definitely my best round for a few years."
England's John Parry is in touch with the early pacesetters after shooting six birdies against one bogey for a five under 67.
The 22-year-old from Harrogate is tied third alongside compatriot Barry Lane, Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen, Lam Chih-bing of Singapore, Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant and Andrew Dodt of Australia.
"It was pretty solid out there today but nothing spectacular," said Parry. "It's a decent start and I am pleased with how I am playing. I probably got a little bit lucky at points out there today but nothing outrageous - it was a pretty fair score."
Lam was not expecting to go so low, especially given a bout of food poisoning ruined his preparations.
“I almost couldn’t walk on the course yesterday so I’m quite surprised with how I played today,” he said.
Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke finished one under following a 71 while World No 59 Jeev Milkha Singh - the highest ranked player at the tournament - endured a disappointing round with three birdies and as many bogeys, leaving him eight shots off the pace.
Siem birdied the 12th, 17th and 18th in his opening back-nine to reach the turn in 33.
The German continued to enjoy another blemish-free run in his homeward nine by carding another three birdies followed by the closing eagle.
“I can’t remember the last time that I shot 64. It must be at least three years ago so I’m pretty happy with that. It’s definitely my best round for a few years,” said a delighted Siem.
Chan, who won his maiden Asian Tour title at the season-ending event in Bangkok last season, overcame a sore back to get his title ambitions back on track in the new season.
The Chinese Taipei player mixed six birdies and an eagle three on the ninth hole to stay in contention for his second Asian Tour win this week.
“I’m happy with my score today, considering that I was getting some treatment for my sore back yesterday. I’m feeling fine now and I ready for the next three days,” said the ever-smiling Chan.

Lam got his Indian campaign underway with three birdies in his opening back-nine. He then birdied the fourth after the turn and dropped his only shot of the day on the par-4 fifth before going on to record two more birdies on the seventh and eighth holes.
“I only dropped one shot on the fifth hole but overall you gain some and you lose some. I’ll try to do what I’ve been doing today by hitting onto the fairways and then the greens and hopefully make some putts to stay in contention for the next three days,” added Lam.
Chapchai continued his Indian sojourn spectacularly when he returned with a blemish-free card that was marked with two birdies and an eagle.
The big-hitting Thai set a new world record when he shot a stunning 32-under-par 256 total en route to victory at the SAIL Open in India last season. Despite nursing a back injury, he is showing early signs of enjoying another memorable run in India again.
Chapchai posted two birdies in his opening three holes before reaching the turn in 34. However, it was his eagle three on the par-five sixth that moved him quickly to second place at one stage in the morning.
He parred his closing three holes to eventually sign for a 68.
“That eagle on the sixth was definitely the highlight of my round today. I hit it long onto the greens with my approach shot and it was a good putt from five feet for the eagle,” said the 26-year-old Thai.
“I had to skip several events early this year as I didn’t feel I would be ready with my back problem. I’m still feeling the effects of it even today and I guess I got lucky with my good score today,” added Chapchai.

SCOTSWATCH: David Drysdale from Dunbar led the Scots in the field with a four-under-par 68, which gives him back-to-back scores on the Tour, albeit four days apart, which suggests he has got the grooves business out of or maybe into his system.

Drysdale, out in 35 and home in 33, starts the second round in joint 10th place overall.

Andrew Coltart (36-33) and Steven O'Hara (35-34) had matching 69s to be joint 19th.

Kirkcaldy's Peter Whiteford did well to return a 70 (35-35) after taking a double-bogey 7 on the chin at the long ninth. He is sharing 26th place.

Richie Ramsay. who missed the cut last week, is lying joint 36th afteer halves of 36 and 35 for a 71.

Only Callum Macaulay, playing on a sponsors' invite, had few reasons to be cheerful among the Scots. The Tulliallan man needs something special to survive the Friday cut. He is lying joint 111th with only seven players behind him at the oment after halves of 38 for a four-over-par 76. A double bogey 5 at the short 16th was indicative of the kind of day Callum had.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72 (36-36). 7156yd
64 Marcel Siem (Ger)
65 Yin-shin Chan (Tpe)
67 Rahil Gangjee (Ind), Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), John Parry, Andrew Dodt (Aus), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Barry Lane
68 Ben Leong (Mal), Richard Bland, David Drysdale, Kwanchai Tannin (Hkg), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Wen-hong Lin (Chn), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
69 Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Joost Luiten (Ned), Richard Finch, Andrew Coltart, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), C Muniyappa (Ind), Steven O'Hara
70 Gurki Shergill (Ind), Peter Whiteford, Darren Beck (Aus), Gareth Maybin, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Jason Knutzon (USA), Lee Slattery, Oliver Fisher, Jamie Elson, Ashok Kumar (Ind)
71 Chris Gane, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Udorn Duangdecha (Tha), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Anthony Kang (USA), Shane Lowry, Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Ted Oh (Kor), Digvijay Singh (Ind), Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Gregory Havret (Fra), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Richie Ramsay, Darren Clarke, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn), Sung Lee (Kor), Keith Horne (Rsa), Mark Foster, James Kamte (Rsa), Kunal Bhasin (Ind)
72 Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Naman Dawar (Ind), Mukesh Kumar (Ind), Rhys Davies, Vikrant Chopra (Ind), George Coetzee (Rsa), Seve Benson, Mardan Mamat (Sin), Gary Lockerbie, Arjun Atwal (Ind), Mark F Haastrup (Den), Rashid Khan (Ind), Gavin Flint (Aus), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
73 Mars Pucay (Phi), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Harmeet Kahlon (Ind), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Scott Barr (Aus), Vijay Kumar (Ind), Pharendra Gupta (Ind), Shamim Khan (Ind), Peter Baker, Richard McEvoy, Julien Quesne (Fra), Mark Brown (Nzl), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Tony Carolan (Aus), Carl Suneson (Spa), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Angelo Que (Phi), Gaurav pratap Singh (Ind)
74 Andrew Tampion (Aus), David Gleeson (Aus), David Howell, Simon Griffiths, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Gary Murphy, Iain Steel (Mal), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Phillip Archer, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Danny Chia (Mal), Adam Blyth (Aus)
75 Danny Lee (Nzl), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Stephan Gross junior (Ger), Marcus Both (Aus), Kodai Ichihara (Jpn), Vishal Singh (Ind), Unho Park (Aus)
76 Arjun Singh (Ind), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Ranjit Singh (Ind), Raju ali Mollah (Ind), Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha), Callum Macaulay, Scott Hend (Aus), Sanjay Kumar (Ind), Amandeep Johl (Ind)
78 Gaurav Ghei (Ind)
79 Rahul Ganapathy (Ind)
80 Himmat Rai (Ind), Andrew Butterfield, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa)
82 Chris Rodgers
83 Steven Jeppesen (Swe)