INDIA MASTERS' OPENING-ROUND REPORT, SCORES
IRISHMAN NIALL TURNER SHARING
FOURTH PLACE
ASIAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE
Bengaluru,
India: India’s S. Chikka took advantage of his home course
knowledge by firing a flawless eight-under-par 64 to grab the opening
honours at the inaugural TAKE Solutions India Masters on Wednesday.
Thailand’s
Pijit Petchkasem stayed in touch with Chikka by mixing his card with
nine birdies against a double-bogey six to take second place while
India’s Abhishek JHA was a further shot back in third place after he
signed for a 66 at the Eagleton Golf Resort in Bengaluru.
Ireland’s
Niall Turner, who is part of the international cast of players to take
their place at the first Asian Development Tour (ADT) event to be held
in India, carded a 67 to share fourth place with three others at the
US$70,000 event.
After
returning from Macau where he missed the cut last week, Chikka’s
opening day’s effort brought back the smiles for the Indian.
Chikka,
however believes it is still early days and knows he has to continue to
step up his game in order to compete with the region’s best players.
“This
week is a good opportunity for me to get my game back onto the next
level as it’s an ADT event. I’ve played in three events on the Asian
Tour this year and have only made the cut once.
"It’s
a totally different level of competition on the Asian Tour but
thankfully we have events like this on the ADT to develop ourselves into
better players,” said Chikka.
Meanwhile
Turner, who is chasing his second ADT win at the TAKE Solutions India
Masters this week, stumbled early with a bogey-five on the second hole
but redeemed himself quickly with a birdie on seven before going on to
post an eagle-three on 10 and further birdies on 11, 15 and 17.
The 31-year-old has already notched up one ADT win and four top-10s this season.
Ranked
third on the ADT money list, the Irishman is also within sights of
earning his place on the Asian Tour next season as only the top-five
finishers on the Order of Merit will earn their coveted Asian Tour cards
for 2015.
“I’m
almost there. (Getting his Asian Tour card) If I can maintain the
consistency that I’ve shown throughout the year, I should be fine.
"It’s
a privilege to be able to play in this inaugural ADT event in India and
it’s definitely a sign that the ADT is growing from strength to
strength,” said Turner.
Leading first round scores:
64 S Chikka (IND)
65 Pijit PETCHKASEM (THA)
66 Abhishek JHA (IND)
67 M DHARMA (IND), Niall TURNER (IRL), Deepinder Singh Kullar (IND), Khalin JOSHI (IND)
68 Abhishek KUHAR (IND), Suppakorn UTHAIPAT (THA)
69
N THANGARAJA (SRI), Manav JAINI (IND) C. Muniyappa (IND) Himmat RAI
(IND), Kapil KUMAR (IND), Honey BAISOYA (IND), Srikanta M (IND)
Selected score
74 S S P CHOWRASIA (IND)
Labels: ASIAN TOUR
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