The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Jeev tied 65th; Atwal, Chopra way behind

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 12, 2006

Sport

Sport - Golf

Jeev tied 65th; Atwal, Chopra way behind

Castle Rock (U.S.): Jeev Milkha Singh opened his campaign with three points at The International on the USPGA Tour. The unique event encourages attacking golf with rich rewards for birdies and eagles. Jeev shot two birdies and had one bogey to be tied for the 65th place.

Sweden's Mathias Gronberg, going through a lean season, found form to take a two-point lead in the thin Colorado mountain air. The 36-year-old played aggressively and stacked up eight birdies and three bogeys for a total of 13 points on the modified Stableford scoring system. Gronberg finished with successive birdies to cap a fine day.

Arjun Atwal and Daniel Chopra were tied 104th with minus one point each.

The players get eight points for an albatross (three-under), five for an eagle and two for a birdie. The penalty for a bogey is a deduction of a point while three are cut for a double bogey or worse.

Jeev, the Asian Tour's Order of Merit leader playing in the United States for the first since the U.S. Open, opened with a string of nine pars after starting on the 10th hole. He then birdied the first and fifth, and looked well set for a decent finish before bogeying the eighth.

Terrible start

Atwal, who also opened on the 10th, started with two bogeys, had another two on 17th and 18th, and closed with two more on the eighth and ninth. In between, he had three birdies and another bogey. He finished with seven bogeys and three birdies; so did Chopra.

The Swede of Indian origin also started with a bogey on the 10th, but made up with birdies on the 12th and 14th, before shooting six bogeys in a row from the 15th to the second on the front nine. Clearly the attempt to go for the pins did not work for him.

Australia's Stuart Appleby eagled the par-five 14th on his way to a share of second place at 11 points with Americans Stewart Cink and Tom Pernice, the 2001 champion.

Defending champion Retief Goosen had five birdies but also seven bogeys, leaving him at three points — 10 behind the leader.

Bad day for Kapur

At Zaandvoort (Netherlands), Shiv Kapur endured a tough day in the first round of the Dutch Open. He faltered on the back nine and shot a four-over 75 in wet and windy conditions.

The Indian golfer is playing in the event on a sponsor's exemption and is trying to gain valuable experience on the European Tour during the summer break in Asia.

Christian Cevear and Anders Hansen shared the first round lead with cards of six-under 65.

Kapur dropped a shot on the third but a birdie on the fifth put him on an even keel. However, a bogey on the ninth and 12th, and a double bogey on the 15th saw him tied at the 123rd spot. — PTI

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