Last year’s runner-up Rashid Khan fired a career-best 11-under 61 to open a five-stroke lead on the opening day of the $300,000 SAIL-SBI Open golf championship in Delhi on Thursday.
Rashid, who topped the money-list last season, fired four birdies on the front-nine, sank a 14-feet ‘eagle’ putt on the par-5 14th hole besides five other birdies after the turn. His superlative effort, however, fell one stroke shy of matching the course record of 12-under set by China’s LiangWen-Chong in 2008.
“I didn’t leave myself too many long putts today as my hitting was spot-on. I didn’t focus too much on the leader-board but just played my game. I’m delighted to have improved on my previous single-round best of nine-under, which I shot in Sri Lanka earlier this month. I made a few changes to my swing during the practice round on Monday under the guidance of my fellow professional and senior Ashok Kumar. The changes have helped me hit the fade shot better,” said Rashid.
On a low-scoring day when 63 players, including 27 Indians, broke par, Sri Lanka’s Mithun Parera and Japan’s Akinori Tani shared the second spot at 66.
The scores: Rashid Khan 61; Mithun Parera (Sri), Akinori Tani (Jpn) 66; Scott Barr (Aus), Siddikur Rahman (Ban) 67; S. S. P. Chowrasia, S. Chikka, Sanjay Kumar, C. Muniyappa, Steve Lewton (Eng), Angelo Que (Phi), Digvijay Singh, Shamim Khan, Kim Gi-Shan (Kor), George Gandranta (Ina) and Abhijit Chadha 68 each.
