Golfer Sharma takes opening round honour at Tata Open

Shubhankar Sharma of Panchkula took the opening round honour at the Rs.75 lakh prize money 15th TATA Open 2016 with his dazzling seven-under-64 at the Golmuri Golf Course today.
Patna's Aman Raj and Chandigarh golfer Sujjan Singh ended the day in joint second with scores of six-under-65.
Sharma, a winner of two titles this season and also a top contender in the 2016 Rolex Ranking race, began his campaign at the penultimate event of the season with a bang.
The 20-year-old, currently in fourth place in the Rolex Ranking, had a slow start to his round as he was one-over through eight holes.

He then stepped up the gas with an eagle followed by four birdies over the next five holes.
Sharma's purple patch began on the par-5 ninth where he sank an eagle from four feet. The next four holes saw him drain birdie putts from a range of six to 12 feet. The three-time winner on the PGTI produced a final flourish with birdies on the last two holes.

Rookie Aman Raj, who chipped-in from 30 yards for an eagle-two on the fourth, made the turn at a promising five-under.
Aman, currently second in the PGTI Emerging Player of the Year race behind Gurgaon's Veer Ahlawat, shot a one-under on the back-nine to stay in touch with the leader.

Sujjan Singh, who finished tied fourth at last year's TATA Open, had a whirlwind start this time around as he sank 15-footers on the first two holes for birdie and eagle.
Sujjan had another eagle chance from 10 feet on the fourth but two-putted to salvage a birdie there. The bogey on the sixth was a minor blip for Sujjan as he added three more birdies on the back-nine.
Noida's Gaurav Pratap Singh, Angad Cheema of Panchkula, Chandigarh's Abhijit Singh Chadha and Delhi's Himmat Singh Rai occupied joint fourth place at five-under-66. Rolex Ranking leader Shamim Khan of Delhi fired a three-under-68 to be tied 13th.

Defending champion Mukesh Kumar's first round of even-par-71 placed him tied 46th. Wasim Khan of Delhi made a hole-in-one on the seventh during his opening round of 71. He too was tied 46th.