El Jadida (Morocco), June 6 (IANS) Karandeep Kochhar of India posted a fine round of 6-under 66 and positioned himself in the tied second place after the first day of the USD 500,000 IGPL Bharath Classic at the Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort. The 26-year-old from Chandigarh is one shot behind the leader, Thailand’s Runchanapong Youprayong, who carded 7-under 65 that included eight birdies against one bogey.
Kochhar, a four-time winner in India, added a breakthrough win on the IGPL Tour late last year with a victory in IGPL Dubai hosted by Shiv Kapur. Kochhar had a four-birdie streak early in the round from the second hole and turned in 5-under 31, before picking two more birdies against one bogey in his second nine for a 66.
Sharing the second place with Kochhar were Australia’s Will Florimo and Austria’s Nicklas Regner.
Thai star Runchanapong, who came into this week’s event with a fine showing last week – a third place IGPL Morocco Rising Stars, benefitted from the experience of having played here, and took a one-shot lead in the IGPL Bharath Classic at the same venue.
The next best Indian in the field was Aryan Roopa Anand, who armed with confidence that leapfrogged since his win at the IGPL Congo, shot 4-under 68 despite two bogeys. He had six birdies including three in a row on the front nine of the course from the third to the fifth.
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One of IGPL’s marquee stars, Kochhar missed the cut last week but is hoping to make up for it, said, “I think I played really well overall. I drove it well, hit the irons well and putted well, because I think last week I struggled with my putting.”
“I put in a lot of work over the weekend and the first few days on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday as well. So I think all of that, all of that work really showed. in today’s round. The course wasn’t playing that easy, I would say, especially midway through the round. It was really windy and that whole, that stretch of 12, 13, 14, 15 is not easy.”
He added, “I am looking forward to the next few rounds. The course is in great shape. It’s not short, it’s quite windy, the greens are good. So looking forward to the next couple of days.”
Other prominent Indians were Shaurya Bhattacharya, Raghav Chugh and young Kartik Singh, who all shot 2-under 70 each to be Tied-24th.
Trishul Chinnappa, Harendra Gupta, former Indian Open winner, C Muniyappa and amateur Jai Bahl shot 1-under 71 each and were T-50 on a well-contested leader board.
Some of the bigger names had a rough start and it included four-time IGPL winner and 11-time Asian Tour winner, Gaganjeet Bhullar, who carded 3-over 75 as did six-time Asian Tour winner, SSP Chawrasia. They were T-107 and needed a strong second round to stay on for the weekend.
Leader Runchanapong (65) started from the first tee and had four birdies on either side of the 7,448-yard course that runs along the scenic course. He birdied two of the first three holes before making his only bogey of the day on the par-4 fourth. He was six-under par for his last 11 holes.
“I felt like I hit in good positions quite a lot, and I planned my way around the golf course pretty well,” said Runchanapong. “That was the key takeaway that I learned from last week – where I want to leave the golf shot.”
Sharing the second place with Kochhar were Florimo and Regner. Last year Regner, like Kochhar, won an ADT event in Egypt last year, and has made some swing changes with his coach in Austria. Florimo won the Heritage Classic on the PGA Tour of Australasia earlier this season, so he is good form, too.
Three players, including the in-form duo South Africa’s Ian Snyman and New Zealand’s Nick Voke, were tied fifth alongside Australian Jed Morgan with cards of five-under 67.
The tournament is part of a three-event swing which has been called the ‘North African Adventure’ with three events in three weeks in Morocco. The events are co-sanctioned by the Indian Premier Golf League (IGPL) and the Asian Tour.
After back-to-back tournaments at Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort, built on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, the Asian Tour will move to Rabat next week for the USD 2 million International Series Morocco.
