Ludhiana, June 17 (IANS) Rookie Tushar Pannu of Karnal set the bar at five-under 31 on the first day of the fifth event of the PGTI NexGen season being played at The Imperial Golf Estate in Ludhiana. The 21-year-old Pannu enjoyed a one-shot lead.

Kushal Singh of Gurugram returned a four-under 32 to be placed second after round one.

The Imperial Golf Estate is a par-72 nine-hole course where the nine holes are played twice to comprise a round. However, due to a rain delay on Tuesday, the first round of the tournament comprised only nine holes instead of 18, with the par for the course being 36.

Tushar Pannu’s hot putter ensured he led the field on the opening day with an error-free round. Tushar drained an eagle on the sixth hole along with three birdies on Tuesday, all coming as a result of conversions from a range of 12 to 15 feet. He also made a great par-save on the fourth after an erratic tee shot.

Tushar said, “When you play just nine holes, the effort is to play steady and stay under par. I was looking at two-under today, so I’m thrilled that I exceeded my expectations. The putter was on fire as I sank a lot of long putts.

“I’ve had a decent start to my professional career this year with a few top-20s under my belt on the PGTI’s main tour. That has given me a lot of confidence coming into this NexGen event.”

Kushal Singh too shot a bogey-free round as he was close to the heels of the leader at 32. Karnal’s Rohit Narwal, Panchkula-based Abhishek Kumar, and Chandigarh’s Vasu Sehgal were tied for third place at three-under 33.

The tournament offers a prize purse of INR 20 lakh and marks the debut of professional golf and the PGTI in Ludhiana, one of Punjab’s major cities.

The event will be played over three rounds (54 holes) with the cut being applied after two rounds (36 holes). The top 36 players and ties will make the cut for the third and final round. The tournament features a field of 72 players and features leading professional golfers from all across India.

–IANS

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