El Jadida (Morocco), June 5 (IANS) Last week front-runner Karandeep Kochhar experienced a missed cut and had a rare weekend off. Stung by the reverse, Kochhar spent the weekend at the Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort course working on his short game.

It paid off on the first day of the USD 500,000 IGPL Bharath Classic at the same venue as he carded a 6-under 66 and placed himself one shot behind the leader, Thailand’s Runchanapong Youprayong (65).

Another Indian Aryan Roopa Anand, a recent winner at IGPL Congo, was also in the Top-10. He shot 4-under 68 and was Tied-eighth. Kochhar, 26, winner of four pro titles in India, added his first IGPL win last year at the IGPL Dubai and has been in good form. He was Tied-fourth at the Philippine Golf Championship and then Tied-fifth at the high-profile International Series Japan. He also made cuts at the New Zealand and Singapore Opens.

Kochhar said, “I think the key to this round was putting. I felt like I hit the ball well last week as well but the putter was the main difference. The pace on the greens wasn’t there. I would say, I was really much more comfortable than I had been the last a week, but yeah, I think, but I think I’d really put in a lot of work over the last few days, trying to sort off my putting, and I’m very happy that it showed.”

“I put in a lot of work over the weekend and the first few days on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday as well. So I think all of that, all of that work really showed. in today’s round. The course wasn’t playing that easy, I would say, especially midway through the round. It was really windy, and that whole stretch of 12, 13, 14, 15 is not easy.”

“The conditions weren’t easy. I think today was definitely a little windier than last week. The tees were also pushed back compared to last week. It made a lot of difference because on a couple of holes, what lines you take off the tee changes. I hit a hybrid on one par-three and a couple for my second shots on par-4s. The course was definitely playing longer.”

Kochhar said, “I think I played really well overall. I drove it well, hit the irons well and putted well. I think last week I struggled with my putting.” He added, “I am looking forward to the next few rounds. The course is in great shape. It’s not short, it’s quite windy, the greens are good. So I’m looking forward to the next couple of days.”

–IANS

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