Ahmedabad, Nov 27 (IANS) Pukhraj Singh Gill was the home star as he carded his best-ever round on the Asian Tour with a 6-under 66 card on the first day of the Bharath Classic 2025 Gujarat at Kensville Golf Resort.

Using a new putter he had bought from the Pro shop at BPGC in Mumbai, where he played last week, Gill. A tenth-tee starter had eight birdies against two bogeys in an aggressive display at the challenging Kensville course.

Gill, a winner on the IGPL Tour in Jamshedpur, is two shots behind Korean Heemin Chang who took the lead on Day one.

Playing the course without a practice round because he arrived only late last night, Chang shot an eight-under-par 64 including an eagle on the Par-4 15th hole. He had seven birdies and an eagle against one lone bogey on the Par-5 14th.

Lying tied second with Gill are Korean Wooyoung Cho and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond and Poosit Supupramai, who shot 66 each.

Indians had a good day with three others Ajeetesh Sandhu, Olympian Udayan Mane, Sachin Baisoya and amateur Ishaan Chawhan shooting 5-under 67 each to be Tied-sixth and Indian-American Varun Chopra also carded a 67 as eight players were bunched at Tied-sixth. It also included recent Asian Tour winner, Ekpharit Wu of Thailand.

Saptak Talwar, who divided his time between the HotelPlanner Tour and the Indian Tour, shot 3-under 69 as did veteran Naman Dawar, Sudhir Sharma and Gaurav Pratap Singh in a big bunch at Tied-17th.

This week’s inaugural US$500,000 Bharath Classic is being joint-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) Tour. The IGPL has three more events on its 2025 calendar, while it is the penultimate tournament of the season on the Asian Tour.

It is an important week for those hoping to make up ground on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit to secure playing privileges for next year, while the top four on the IGPL will get a spot into the final stage of the Asian Tour Q-School and a place in 2026 International Series India.

Gill was thrilled with his showing, saying, “I played aggressively and playing on the IGPL which has three rounds has had made play to my strength.

In the first round I hit the ball good and used the driver well. Even towards the end when I was 6-under I was playing aggressively, because that mindset helped me get my first win recently on the IGPL Tour.

Surely a win is my goal but I also want to contend on the IGPL and get a place into the Asian Tour Q-School if I can’t win this week. I have played well on the ADT and I am keen to get to the Asian Tour.”

Gill said, “Great first day. I know this course fairly well. We have quite a few tournaments here. It’s been a good track. So yes, I think that definitely helped. Yeah, solid off the tee. Great on the green.

“I was very excited for this week, because Asian Tour is back in India after quite some time, and to have it at Kensville is pretty damn good.”

As for his putting, he revealed, “I got myself a new putter last week in Mumbai and I put it in play here and it gave me good results, despite a late three-putt. I am feeling confident and am ready to go.”

It was a bit of disappointing day for two in-form players, Yuvraj Sandhu, who has five wins this year, and Shaurya Bhattacharya, who has two wins this year. Both shot even par 72 each while Aman Raj, who also has two wins on the IGPL, carded 1-over 73.

Korean Heemin Chang said, “It’s a good result, as it’s my first time here,” said Chang, who is 127th on the Merit list. “The greens were slower than I expected but I adapted well, and my course management was good.”

–IANS

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