Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar pocketed a fine round of 6-under 66 and positioned himself in the tied second place at the end of the first day of the USD 500,000 AM Green Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) Bharath Classic at the Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort on Friday.
The 26-year-old stands one shot behind the leader, Thailand’s Runchanapong Youprayong, who carded 7-under 65, including eighth birdies against one bogey. Kochhar, a four-time winner in India, added a breakthrough win on the AM Green 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 9-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 – having secured third place at AM Green IGPL Morocco Rising Stars. He benefitted from the experience of having played at the same venue before, and took a one-shot lead in the Bharath Classic edition.
The next top-performing Indian on the field was Aryan Roopa Anand. Armed with confidence that leapfrogged since his win at the AM Green 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.
One of IGPL’s marquee stars, Kochhar had missed the cut last week but said he was hoping to make up for it. “I think I played really well overall this time. I drove it well, hit the irons well and putted well. I think last week I struggled with my putting,” he said. “I put in a lot of work over the weekend and on the first few days of the week. So, I think all of that work really showed in today’s round. The course wasn’t playing that easy, especially midway through the round. It was really windy and that whole stretch of 12, 13, 14, 15 is not easy.”
Kochhar further said, “I am looking forward to the next few rounds. The course is in great shape. It’s not short, it’s quite windy and the greens are good.”
Other prominent Indian competitors were Shaurya Bhattacharya, Raghav Chugh and Kartik Singh, who all shot 2-under 70 each to be tied for the 24th place. 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, including four-time IGPL winner and 11-time Asian Tour winner Gaganjeet Bhullar, who carded 3-over 75, and 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. He birdied two of the first three holes before making his only bogey of the day on the par-4 fourth. He came in six-under par for his last 11 holes.
“I felt like I was able to 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 my shot.”
Sharing the second place with Kochhar were Florimo and Regner. Last year, Regner, like Kochhar, won an ADT event in Egypt. He has made some swing changes with his coach in Austria since then. Florimo won the Heritage Classic on the PGA Tour of Australasia earlier this season and is in good form.
Three players, including the in-form duo of 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 called the ‘North African Adventure’, with three events over three weeks in Morocco. The events are co-sanctioned by the IGPL and the Asian Tour. Following back-to-back tournaments at Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort, the Asian Tour will move to Rabat next week for the USD 2 million International Series Morocco.
IGPL Bharath Classic: Chandigarh golfer Kochhar ends one shot behind leader on first day
