Ranjit, Vishal joint leaders

Vishal Singh and Ranjit Singh, roommates this week, jointly led the field at three-under 69 on a high scoring opening day of the Rs 700,000 ONGC-NGC Open Championship 2000, the tenth leg of the 2000-2001 season of the Wills Sport Golf Tour, being played on at the par-72, 6,978-yard Noida golf course, near Delhi on Thursday.

Shiv Prakash, Vijay Kumar, Mukesh Kumar and Gast Ram were jointly placed third, one stroke behind the leader at two-under 70. Ali Sher and Akbar Ali at one-under 71 occupied the joint seventh-spot.

Samodh Palace-sponsored Vishal Singh teed off from the 10th and after paring the first three holes of his front-nine, three-putted from 10 feet to drop a shot on the 13th.

A birdie on the following hole undid the bad work and with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th, Vishal entered his back-nine at a score of two-under. On his return journey, the Jaipur based golfer birdied the 2nd, before missing a one feet par putt on the 5th.

His fifth birdie coming on the 8th placed him in the joint-lead at three-under 69. "I am happy to share the lead with my room-mate Ranjit," said Vishal, whose best finish this season came at the HT ProGolf 2000, where he finished 4th.

Ranjit Singh overshadowed his more illustrious counterparts with a blemish free round of golf on Thursday. The Chandigarh based golfer has from time to time shown glimpses of his talent and today was one such day.

Starting the day with a birdie, Ranjit pared the next six holes before carding back-to-back birdies on the 8th and 9th to make the turn at a daunting three-under. "My confidence was high at this stage and I was looking at something like six or seven-under for the day," said the slim golfer but this was not to be.

A series of pared holes on his back-nine saw him finish the day at three-under 69. "My hitting was exceptional today and I hit 16 regulations to top it all. However, my putting was terrible," said the golfer who recorded as many as 32 putts in his round.

"I have a simple plan for tomorrow. 'Fairway – green- two-putt'," summed up the golfer whose best finish this season came at the Wills Southern Open in Bangalore where he finished 7th.

Kanpur's Shiv Prakash who started on the 10th tee, failed to achieve much on his front-nine, with a bogey on the 13th placing him at one-over at the half-way stage.

"My 8-iron second shot landed on the edge of the bunker and despite chipping to 5 feet from the pin, I failed to sink the putt," said the 41-year old golfer. However, on his back-nine, a birdie on the 1st, resulting from a 6 feet putt, brought back the old confidence and Shiv posted two more birdies on the 6th and 8th to finish his round at two-under 70.

"The feel is there and with the Noida Golf Course playing as well as it is, there is no reason why I can’t card my third win of the season here," said a confident Shiv.

Vijay Kumar hit long and accurate off the tee and showcasing some top quality iron-play carded a two-under 70, which included three birdies and a single bogey. On his front-nine, the highest prize money winner for the past three seasons on the Wills Sport Golf Tour birdied the 6th amid a sea of pared holes.

Entering his return journey at one-under the second ranked golfer on the current season's Order of Merit dropped his only shot of the day on the 12th, before birdying the 14th and 17th.

"I had a 12 feet eagle putt on the 17th, but failed to convert that. My putting needs some serious improvement," said Vijay between practice putts.

Mukesh Kumar, a 10th tee starter, played his outward journey to level-par with a birdie on the 14th and a bogey on the 16th. The bogey was courtesy his visiting the right rough and taking one more shot than necessary to get back onto the fairway.

Last season's Player of the Year award winner started his back-nine in style with a birdie on the 1st, following it up with a safely negotiated 10-feet birdie putt on the 8th, to finish the day at two-under 70. "My hitting was good but I struggled a bit around the greens," said the Mhow-based golfer who recorded 26 putts on Thursday.

Gast Ram of Delhi Golf Club was the other golfer to card a two-under 70.Simarjeet leads amateur field: Local pro Simarjeet Singh carded a one-under 71 to assume sole lead among the amateurs. At second spot was Sheeraz Kalra at one-over 73.

SCORES:

69_Vishal Singh, Ranjit Singh; 70_Shiv Prakash, Vijay Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Gast Ram; 71_Ali Sher, Akbar Ali; 72_Amit Dube, Pappan, Vinod Kumar (D), Vivek Bhandari; 73_ KP Sekhon, Manohar Dike, Mohd Islam, Rohtas Singh, S Madaiah, Yusuf Ali Amateurs: 71_Simarjeet Singh; 73_Sheeraz Kalra