Rohtas blazes the greens

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 19. For the evergreen Rohtas Singh, life begins at 40 - or, so the charming Delhi pro believes.

When Rohtas first played on the Cosmopolitan Club golf course in this city, not only were half the greens ``browns'' but also many of those he plays with these days would have not even so much as touched a golf club.

Yet, there Rohtas was on Tuesday, firing a superb four-under 68 in the first round of the inaugural TNGF Open to lead the field in the four-round Rs.7.5 lakh event. A stroke behind Rohtas is SSP Chowrasia while three players who shot 70 - Rafiq Ali, Ali Sher and Uttam Singh Mundy - are in third place.

Rohtas was in blazing form from the start with birdies on his first two holes and shot three more before he began his return journey. Although he had two more birdies on the way back, bogeys on the 11th, 14th and the rather tricky 18th saw him end up with a card of 68. ``It's looking good. I am confident I can win here. Let's see what happens,'' said Rohtas.

Chowrasia, at 21 less than half Rohtas's age, will know that it would not be easy to stop the veteran from Delhi. Yet, the young man from Calcutta would be happy with his own form after four birdies on the back nine. ``I drove very well today. It was a nice feeling,'' said Chowrasia.

But Rafiq, Mundy and the two-time Indian Open winner Ali Sher are all playing top class golf too as was evident from their two- under cards and there is tremendous excitement in store over the next three days.

Among amateurs, C.V. Yudvir and Iswar Achanta were ahead of the pack with five-over 77s with B. Gurunath two strokes behind at 79.

lLeading pro scores: Rohtas Singh 68, SSP Chowrasia 69, Rafiq Ali, Ali Sher and Uttam Singh Mundy 70, Harmeet Kahlon, Amish Jaita, Vishal Singh, R. Murthy, Shiv Prakash 71.

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