Rahil Gangjee’s course record eight-under 62 at the BPGC pulled AVT Kolkata into the lead in the first round of the third Louis Philippe Cup golf 2014.
The 35-year-old bettered the 2010 mark by Gurbaaz Mann (seven-under 63). He notched up 10 birdies and two bogeys.
Shankar Das chipped in with a three-under 67 to make up for the five-over 75 by Chiragh Kumar. This took the team score to 11-under 129 in the four-day city-based pro golf league.
The best two scores out of three pros per team will be taken into account after two rounds to decide the four semifinalists out of nine sides.
Puravankara Bangalore, Krrish Colombo and TAKE Chennai (all on nine-under 131) followed AVT Kolkata after 18 holes on the opening day.
Gangjee expressed surprise when the course record news was conveyed to him. “I was not even aware. For me, tackling the course was a priority. It is an awesome feeling. I remember my best score here was six-under as an amateur in 2000-2001.”
Teeing off from the 10th, he birdied number 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18 and the first, fourth and seventh holes, dropping shots on the sixth and number 14. “What I did today, four pros produce such scores daily on the Web.com Tour. There is so much depth there. Missing one stroke is enough to push you back 10 places,” added Gangjee.
Anirban Lahiri, captain of Puravankara Bangalore, managed a bogey free 65 (five-under). “I could not read the lines properly on the greens, will speak to Chikkarangappa. He understands the greens here better than me,” he said.
Team placings after 1st round (best two scores calculated): AVT Kolkata 11-under-129 (Rahil Gangjee 62, Shankar Das 67, Chiragh Kumar 75); Puravankara Bangalore nine-under-131 (Anirban Lahiri 65, M. Dharma 66, S. Chikkarangappa 66); Krrish Colombo nine-under-131 (Himmat Rai 65, K. Prabagaran 66, N. Thangaraja 72); TAKE Chennai nine-under-131 (S.S.P. Chowrasia 65, Manav Jaini 66, Mukesh Kumar 71); Navratna Ahmedabad seven-under-133 (Vikrant Chopra 72, Vinod Kumar 65, Mithun Perera 68); Jaypee Greens Greater Noida five-under-135 (Angad Cheema 67, Sanjay Kumar 68, Gaganjeet Bhullar 69); Dev Ellora Laqshya Mumbai five-under-135 (Jyoti Randhawa 67, Mohd Zamal Hossain Mollah 68, Harendra Gupta 70); Shubhkamna Delhi three-under-137 (Shamim Khan 65, Rashid Khan 72, Jeev Milkha Singh 74); DLF Gurgaon three-over-143 (Abhijit Chadha 70, Abhinav Lohan 74, Siddikur Rahman 73).
