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Jeev placed 9th despite a bogey-bogey finish

Joy Chakravarty

Jeev Milkha Singh made an amazing return to the venue where he recorded his best finish in his debut season of the European PGA Tour last year, when he played a four-under 68 round on the opening day of the 1-million euro Compass Group English Open, which started at the Marriott Hanbury Manor, Hertfordshire, England, on Thursday.

According to information, Jeev was in amazing form as he blitzed the course to be six-under after 13 holes and looked in contention to challenge the day's best card of eight-under 64 by Australia's Geoff Ogilvy and John Bickerton of England. But a disastrous finish saw him making bogies on his 17th and 18th holes (the 8th and 9th of the course as he had started from the 10th tee) to finally finish at four-under 68 and tied for 9th place. His other bogey came on the 5th hole.

Jeev had finished tied for the eighth place in the English Open last year.

The Hero-Honda sponsored Jeev began with a birdie on the par-4 10th and then added two more on the 14th and 15th to be three-under at the turn. On his back nine, the 27-year-old from Chandigarh made a hat-trick of birdies starting from the 560-yard, par-5 2nd hole. His first bogey came on the 464-yard, par-4 5th.

Leading the tournament were Ogilvy and Bickerton at eight-under 64, while Mathias Gronberg of Sweden was third at six-under 66.

There was a five-way tie for the fourth place at five-under, which included a familiar name in the form of David Carter of England. Carter won the 1997 Honda-Siel PGA Championship at the Army Golf Course, Dhaulakuan.

The big guns of the tournament, defending champion Lee Westwood, Volvo Order of Merit leader Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and runner-up Retief Goosen of South Africa were all placed tied for 31st position at two-under 70 after the opening day.

After the Compass Group English Open, Jeev next heads for the US on Sunday night to compete in the final stage of the US Open qualifiers.

The US Open begins at the Pinehurst Country Club from June 17.

SCORES (after 18 holes): T-1st. 64 _ Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), John Bickerton (Eng); 3rd. 66 _ Matthias Gronberg (Swe); T-4th. 67 _ Olle Karlsson (Swe), Sam Torrence (Sco), Mark McNulty (Zim), David Carter (Eng), Thomas Gogele (Ger); T-9th. 68 _ Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Darren Clarke (NIr), Andrew Coltart (Sco), Gary Orr (Sco), Roger Winchester (Eng), Tom Gillis (US), Peter Mitchell (Eng), Stephen Leaney (Aus), Paul Curry (Eng).