Day one of the Hero Indian Open saw rough conditions as play was halted due to bad weather.
The Indians particularly found it rough on the course on day one as the best placed Indians who had finished stood at even par (Shubhankar Sharma, Rigel Fernandes).
SSP Chawrasia, the defending champion was on a good round as he was left with 3 holes to finish from Round 1 on Friday due to bad weather halting play on Thursday.
Rigel Fernandes, one of the four amateurs playing in the Indian Open was placed at even par and he was visibly delighted with the day's proceedings.Fernandes was ecstatic about his first round. He said, “It was a solid start for me. I hit my first shot of the day out of bounds but recovered nicely. I birdied three of my last four holes today so finished nicely. Hopefully some momentum going into tomorrow.”
Talking of this course, Fernandes, whose father has been walking with him, said, “The course from tee to green is pretty nice. The putting surfaces are a little extreme so you just have to be in the right parts. I have not played anything like this ever.”
Talking of what brought him back to focus after a double bogey start, he said, “The second shot on 11 calmed me down. Hit a nice wedge to 5 feet and made the first birdie of the day. That helped and from there on I gained confidence.”
SSP Chawrasia: One-under through 15 holes
It’s a good start as one expects it to be a high-scoring week. I didn’t drop any shots on the front-nine but missed at least four birdie opportunities from close range. The birdie miss from three feet on the eighth was a disappointing one. I feel that is the toughest par-5 hole and a birdie there would’ve really lifted my confidence.
The weather interruption didn’t really bother me. In fact my round took off after the break. I made two eight feet birdie conversions on the 12th and 15th after play resumed. An under-par opening round would give me a good platform to build on so that will be the focus when I resume the first round tomorrow.
Also Read: HIO 2017: Anirban Lahiri off to a torrid start at the Hero Indian Open
