Jakarta: Shiv Kapur and Sujjan Singh carded two-under 70 each to be tied 21st on the opening day of the USD 750,000 CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters, here Thursday. The Indians were four shots behind the leaders, Australian Scott Hend and Hwang In-Choon of Korea.
Reigning Open Championship winner Ernie Els of South Africa was also in the mix after returning with a 68 at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club. Bernd Wiesberger of Austria fired 67 for third while Thai rising star Arnond Vongvanij, Jason Knutzon of the United States, Adilson Da Silva of Brazil and Australians David Lutterus, Unho Park and Scott Barr, playing his 200th Asian Tour event, were a further shot back with Els.
Kapur and Sujjan apart, only two other Indians returned sub-par rounds, with Rahil Gangjee and Ajeetesh Sandhu carded 71 each to be tied 38th. Anirban Lahiri and Shankar Das, both 72, were 52nd, while Abhijit Chadha two-under after 16 dropped three shots in last two holes, to score 73 alongside Jyoti Randhawa and Digvijay Singh in tied 73rd place.
Himmat Rai and C Muniyappa carded 74 and Chiragh Kumar shot 77. The big-hitting Hend renewed his fondness of playing in the country where he won his first Asian Tour title in 2008. He was delighted to be in position to win his second victory this season following his triumph at the Chiangmai Golf Classic in Thailand in March.
"I'm in a good position. The scores are going to be low this week so I've got to keep grinding those numbers and add that into a good score," said Hend, who traded six birdies and one eagle against one double bogey.
"The ball is not rolling very far because of how wet it is from the rain last night. We (big hitters) have an advantage over the other guys but you still have to get those putts into the hole," said the three-time Asian Tour winner.
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