![\"Shankar](\"images\/golf\/Shankar-Das-Round-1-2015-PGTI-season.jpg\")
Jaipur: Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the reigning Rolex Rankings champion, and rookie Udayan Mane of Bangalore, began the second half of the 2015 PGTI season with outstanding scores of nine-under-61 to be the joint round one leaders at the PGTI Players Championship at Rambagh Golf Club in Jaipur. Abhijit Singh Chadha of Chandigarh struck an eight-under-62 to occupy third place.<\/p>\n
Shankar Das, who so far has just one top-10 from his four starts this season, earned his first birdie thanks to an immaculate tee shot on the fourth. He then played his shot of the day, a low hook from under a tree, to set up a tap-in birdie on the fifth. Shankar’s third birdie on the eighth meant he made the turn at three-under.<\/p>\n
Das hit accurate tee shots, all within seven feet, on all three par-3s on the back-nine to collect birdies. His brilliant chipping helped him pocket birdies on the last three par-5s as well. The multiple-event winner on the PGTI thus ended up registering one of his lowest scores ever.<\/p>\n
Das said, “This is one of my best rounds ever. I hit all greens except one as my drives and approach shots were on the mark. I didn’t leave myself any long putts. It’s great to start the second half of the season in this fashion.<\/p>\n
“The long hours of practice that I put into my driving and iron shots during the mid-season break seems to be bearing fruit. The win at the LP Cup in June has been a huge morale-booster as well even though it was a team event. This course demands accuracy off the tee and that is what I’ll strive for over the next three days.”<\/p>\n
Udayan Mane, playing his first season as a professional, was also off to a brilliant start at Rambagh with an error-free 61. The highlights of his round included a tee shot within four feet on the fourth, a terrific recovery from the rough for birdie on the seventh and a 20-feet birdie conversion on the 12th.<\/p>\n
“I felt I was a little shaky to begin with but soon came into my own. I hit my short-irons and wedges pretty close today. The couple of tournaments that I played at my home course Eagleton recently, kept me in tournament mode during the mid-season break. I’ve worked a lot on my fitness in the past few months and that has helped me raise my game.<\/p>\n
“One needs to drive well here to set up easy approaches and also need to be sharp with the wedges,” said Mane.<\/p>\n
The preferred lie rule is in application this week for the par-5 holes. Therefore, Shankar and Udayan’s scores of 61 will not be considered a joint course record along with Sanjay Kumar’s nine-under-61 that he shot at the PGTI Players Championship in 2011.<\/p>\n
Abhijit Singh Chadha fired an eagle and six birdies to be third, one off the lead. Chadha made eagle on the par-5 eighth with a 15-feet conversion.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka’s Anura Rohana didn’t get too much time to practice during the mid-season break due to his coaching stint with the Sri Lankan amateur team, but he too gave a good account of himself with a 63 on Tuesday. He set up five birdie putts within four feet in round one and sank a 20-footer for birdie on the fifth.<\/p>\n
Chandigarh golfer Ajeetesh Sandhu was in fifth place at six-under-64.<\/p>\n
Jaipur’s Vishal Singh was placed tied 57th at one-over-71.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jaipur: Kolkata’s Shankar Das, the reigning Rolex Rankings champion, and rookie Udayan Mane of Bangalore, began the second half of the 2015 PGTI season with outstanding scores of nine-under-61 to be the joint round one leaders at the PGTI Players Championship at Rambagh Golf Club in Jaipur. Abhijit Singh Chadha of Chandigarh struck an eight-under-62 to occupy third place.<\/p>\n
Shankar Das, who so far has just one top-10 from his four starts this season, earned his first birdie thanks to an immaculate tee shot on the fourth. He then played his shot of the day, a low hook from under a tree, to set up a tap-in birdie on the fifth. Shankar’s third birdie on the eighth meant he made the turn at three-under.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-golf-golf"],"yoast_head":"\n