![\"Sameer](\"images\/golf\/Sameer-M-Shaikh.jpg\")
Hyderabad: Pune’s Sameer Shaikh produced the best round of his professional career, a fiery bogey-free eight-under-63, to take the lead and stamp his authority on day one of the Golconda Masters 2017 being played at the Hyderabad Golf Club’s pristine par-71 course.<\/p>\n
Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi, a three-time winner on the PGTI, also posted an impressive six-under-65, to occupy second place at the end of round one of the Rs. 40 lakh event.<\/p>\n
Sameer M Shaikh, the 27-year-old from the Poona Club Golf Course who turned pro back in 2012, was the man with the Midas touch at the HGC on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Shaikh, who has never finished inside the top-60 of the PGTI Order of Merit till date, came within a shot of equaling defending champion Ajeetesh Sandhu’s course record (nine-under-62) from last year as he signed his first ever bogey-free card.<\/p>\n
Sameer’s five birdies on the front-nine featured a chip-in from the rough on the fourth, two long conversions and a tap-in on the ninth. The Pune lad picked up three more strokes on the back-nine which included an astonishing recovery on the 15th where his tee shot had landed in trouble.<\/p>\n
An overjoyed Sameer said, “I’m thrilled as this is my first ever bogey-free round. I think I surprised myself today. I had a poor 2016, having finished 76th in the money list. Not that I was playing badly. I was constantly missing cuts by one or two shots. I kept losing focus whenever I was in a good position.<\/p>\n
“But I began this season with a fresh approach after receiving lot of inputs and encouragement from fellow professional Rajiv Datar who has many more years of experience than me and who is also someone I look up to.<\/p>\n
“I’m now enjoying my game and keeping it simple instead of thinking too much about what I’m doing on the course. I could just see the fairways and greens today and the thought of conceding a bogey didn’t even occur to me. My caddie Akshay Damle also ensured that I stayed positive as he kept pumping me up.<\/p>\n
“The amazing recovery on the 15th summed up my round. After landing my tee shot in trouble I had a difficult lie. But I somehow found the green from there thanks to my best shot of the day. I then sank a 13-footer for birdie surpassing my expectation of saving par.<\/p>\n
“The aim will now be to post sub-par rounds from here on.”<\/p>\n
Khalin Joshi, having put behind the disappoint of missing out on his Asian Tour card for 2017, made a splendid start to the week with a six-under that featured an eagle and six birdies at the cost of two bogeys.<\/p>\n
Khalin drained a 30-feet eagle putt on the par-5 eighth and tapped-in for birdie on the par-3 11th. Joshi said, “I struck it well off the tee, better than last week, and also had a good measure of the greens. The swirling winds will be a challenge here at the HGC.”<\/p>\n
Panchkula’s Angad Cheema, who had a top-10 at the season-opener in Noida last week, was placed third at five-under-66. Cheema set up his eagle on the par-5 17th after an outstanding approach that stopped three feet from the flag.<\/p>\n
Former Asian Tour winner Himmat Singh Rai of Delhi shared fourth place at 67 along with Gurgaon-based Veer Ahlawat and Chandigarh’s Feroz Singh Garewal. Garewal produced an eagle-two on the par-4 15th.<\/p>\n
Reigning champion Ajeetesh Sandhu of Chandigarh closed the day in tied 19th with a score of 70.<\/p>\n
Noida’s Dipankar Kaushal struck a hole-in-one on the 11th during his round of 72. He was placed tied 42nd.<\/p>\n
Haider Hussain, the lone Hyderabad-based professional in the field, returned a 74 to be tied 67th.<\/p>\n
Among the six local amateurs competing, C Rohan Reddy was the best placed. He was in tied 76th as a result of his opening round of 75.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hyderabad: Pune’s Sameer Shaikh produced the best round of his professional career, a fiery bogey-free eight-under-63, to take the lead and stamp his authority on day one of the Golconda Masters 2017 being played at the Hyderabad Golf Club’s pristine par-71 course.<\/p>\n
Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi, a three-time winner on the PGTI, also posted an impressive six-under-65, to occupy second place at the end of round one of the Rs. 40 lakh event.<\/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":[21417,12943,17321,466,21416],"class_list":["post-33401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-golf-golf","tag-golconda-masters-2017","tag-golf-news","tag-hyderabad-golf-club","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-sameer-shaikh"],"yoast_head":"\n