The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Jeev in joint lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 24, 2006
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Golf

Jeev in joint lead

KOCHI (Japan): Jeev Milkha Singh continued his quest for a maiden title in Japan as he shared the lead with two other Japanese players, Azumo Yano and Tetsuya Haraguchion, after a flawless six-under 66 on the opening day of the $1.19 million Casio World Open golf tournament here.

The trio was one shot clear of Hideki Kase, who shot a five-under 67. Defending champion Toru Taniguchi (68) shared the fourth place with three others, including Frankie Minoza of the Philippines, Tadahiro Takayama and Yoshikazu Haku.

Jeev, who had a sensational season, has been in terrific form. He has consistently been in contention and been in top-10 ten times in 15 starts. In Japan, he has been out of the top-30 only once.

``I have been striking the ball well and the putting has been fairly okay. I am happy that I have regularly been in contention in Japan, as also elsewhere,'' said the 34-year-old Indian, who is currently 63rd in the world.

``My goal is to try and win in Japan (he has one more event, next week) and finish in top-50 of the world,'' Jeev said.

Jeev opened with a birdie and added two more on the fourth and fifth holes to go three-under for the front nine. He missed at least one more birdie putt from less than eight feet.

On the back nine, he birdied the 10th and then watched a couple of birdie putts glide past the cup. But he sank them on the last two and finished at 66.

Michelle Wie, making another attempt in a men's event, failed miserably with a nine-over 81 for 101st place in a field of 102 players. She had four bogeys on front nine and five on back, including four in a row from 14th to 17th. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport