Shubhankar gets lead in round one with his dazzling 64 at the Tata Open Golf

Jamshedpur, December 15: Shubhankar Sharma of Panchkula took the opening round honours at the 15th Tata Open 2016 thanks to his dazzling seven-under-64 at the Golmuri Golf Course on Thursday.

Patna�s Aman Raj and Chandigarh golfer Sujjan Singh ended the day in joint second with scores of six-under-65.
Shubhankar Sharma, a winner of two titles this season who is also a top contender in the 2016 Rolex Ranking race, began his campaign at the penultimate event of the season with a bang.

The 20-year-old Shubhankar, currently in fourth place in the Rolex Ranking, had a slow start to his round as he was one-over through eight holes. He then turned on the heat with an eagle followed by four birdies over the next five holes.

Sharma�s purple patch began on the par-5 ninth where he sank an eagle from four feet. The next four holes saw him drain birdie putts from a range of six to 12 feet. The three-time winner on the PGTI produced a final flourish with birdies on the last two holes.

�I wasn�t really playing well till the eighth but managed to turn it around from the ninth onward. I was eight-under on the last 10 holes. I don�t think I�ve ever played this well over a stretch of 10 holes. I landed my tee shots within two feet of the pin on two of the par-3s today.

�Retaining my Asian Tour card has given me loads of confidence. I feel this added confidence will help me a lot in the last two events of the season. Finishing as no. 1 in the Rolex Ranking this year is my top priority at the moment. It�s a big motivating factor for me.

�I last played the TATA Open in 2014, so this is the first time I�m playing the tournament since it moved to Golmuri. The fairways are tighter and the rough is up so the course is going to be quite challenging this week. I just want to continue doing what I�ve done all year which is playing solid from tee to green,� said Shubhankar.

Rookie Aman Raj, who chipped-in from 30 yards for an eagle-two on the fourth, made the turn at a promising five-under. Aman, currently second in the PGTI Emerging Player of the Year race behind Gurgaon�s Veer Ahlawat, shot a one-under on the back-nine to stay in touch with the leader.

Aman Raj said, �I won an amateur event at Golmuri last year. So I feel quite comfortable at this course. I took most of my chances today even though I feel that I missed some opportunities on the par-5s.

�I�m quite happy with my performance in my first season as a professional. I�m inside the top-40 in the rankings at the moment and looking to finish within the top-20 in order to get a direct berth in the final stage of next year�s Asian Tour Q School. However, I�m not thinking too much about the Emerging Player race despite the fact that I�m just slightly behind the leader Veer Ahlawat.�

Sujjan Singh, who finished tied fourth at last year�s TATA Open, had a whirlwind start this time around as he sank 15-footers on the first two holes for birdie and eagle. Sujjan had another eagle chance from 10 feet on the fourth but two-putted to salvage a birdie there. The bogey on the sixth was a minor blip for Sujjan as he added three more birdies on the back-nine.

Sujjan said, �I just missed out on the playoff last year. This is another good start. I missed a few eagle opportunities today having misread the lines. It wasn�t easy scoring towards the end as the wind picked up on my last six holes.

�I feel my game has been on an upswing over the last few weeks and my ball-striking is also getting better. I�m looking forward to a strong finish to the season.�

Noida�s Gaurav Pratap Singh, Angad Cheema of Panchkula, Chandigarh�s Abhijit Singh Chadha and Delhi�s Himmat Singh Rai occupied joint fourth place at five-under-66.

Rolex Ranking leader Shamim Khan of Delhi fired a three-under-68 to be tied 13th.

Defending champion Mukesh Kumar�s first round of even-par-71 placed him tied 46th.

Wasim Khan of Delhi made a hole-in-one on the seventh during his opening round of 71. He too was tied 46th.

Jamshedpur�s Pintu Rajak who carded a one-over-72 was the highest-placed local professional in tied 63rd place.
Karan Taunk of Jamshedpur was a further shot back in tied 70th place.