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Jeev in joint lead

— Photo: AP

SIZZLING START: Jeev Milkha Singh acquitted himself well to share the lead after a rain-curtailed opening day of the PGA Championship on Thursday.

Bloomfield Township (USA): On a day when only six golfers managed to break par, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh survived the test of patience from “The Monster” to card a two-under 68 and grab a share of the lead in the first round of the 90th PGA golf championship, here on Thursday.

Jeev was tied with Swede Robert Karlsson before thunderstorms and darkness forced an early end to the proceedings.

Nicknamed “The Monster,” the Oakland Hills bared its fangs and 16 of the 18 holes on the course went over par with the first, sixth, 16th and 18th producing more than 10 scores of double bogey or worse.

“A great test of golf and patience,” was how Jeev described the course after finishing his round. He did not make the best of starts and bogeyed the first hole.

However, he immediately made amends with an eagle on the par-five second hole.

A fifth-hole birdie followed but once again Jeev was pulled back by a bogey, this time on the seventh, as he made the turn one-under. Jeev’s backward journey started with a bogey on the 10th but he ensured a positive end to his round with birdies on the 15th and 17th.

“Just kept plugging away and made a lot of up and downs, and I think that my putting helped me quite a bit today,” Jeev said.

“My short game was sharp. I didn’t drive the ball that good, but any time you shoot under par in a major championship, I think you got to take it and put it deep down in your pocket, and I’ve done that today,” he added. Ken Duke, Sergio Garcia, Billy Mayfair and Sean O’Hair were all tied for the second spot at one-under.

India-born Swede Daniel Chopra was tied 62nd at four-over 74. Chopra birdied the second and 17th and bogeyed the first, eighth, 10th, 14th, 15th and 16th. — PTI

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