Amardip Sinh Malik's 67 is stand-out performance of day one

Amardip Sinh Malik's five-under-67 was the stand-out performance on day one of the PGTI Players Championship presented by Kensville Golf & Country Club here today.
It gave the professional from the Noida Golf Course a two-shot lead. Chandigarh's Sujjan Singh and the Bangalore duo of Chikkarangappa S and M Dharma shared second place with scores of three-under-69.
Amardip Sinh Malik, who started the week with three top-6 finishes out of five starts in the season, continued the good work at Kensville with a top-class 67. Malik, a winner on the PGTI last year, pocketed his first birdie from four feet on the second. However, the early gain was negated by his bogey on the sixth where he almost hit it out of bounds.

Amardip, a resident of Greater Noida, then enjoyed a golden run of birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie from the eighth through the 11th. He converted a couple of long putts on the eighth and 11th and landed his approach shots within five feet on the ninth and 10th.
Malik said, "I had a terrific run from the eighth through the 11th where I picked up five strokes. I putted well on that stretch, converting two putts from 15 to 20 feet. That was the game for me. The putter went cold thereafter as I didn't convert anything on the last seven holes."
Sujjan Singh, a 10th tee starter, produced four straight birdies from the 11th to 14th which included a chip-in and two 10-feet conversions. Sujjan, a former winner on the Asian Development Tour, seemed to be losing steam when he bogeyed the 15th and 17th after two ordinary approach shots. However, the Chandigarh-based professional, salvaged a stroke with a birdie on the sixth.

M Dharma posted a steady bogey-free 69 for a solid start to the week. He made pars on the first 10 holes before chipping-in for birdie on the second. He left himself a tap-in for birdie after a splendid second shot on the fourth and followed that up with another birdie on the sixth.

Chikkarangappa shared second place with Sujjan and Dharma as he too shot a 69 punctuated by five birdies and two bogeys.
Sri Lankan Anura Rohana, Angad Cheema of Panchkula, Gurgaon's Kunaal Bhatia and Feroz Ali Mollah of Kolkata were in tied fifth place at two-under-70.
Himmat Singh Rai of the DLF Golf & Country Club and Kolkata's Rahil Gangjee occupied tied 23rd place at even-par-72.

Pre-tournament favourites Gaganjeet Bhullar of Kapurthala and Delhi's Rashid Khan were both in tied 66th place with scores of four-over-76.