Feroz, Randhawa lead Indian charge at Open

CALCUTTA, MARCH 10: The Wills Indian Open golf tournament proper tees off tomorrow at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, after a colourful pro-am played over 18 holes today. With the likes of Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja and Roger Binny among the amateurs, the curtain-raiser had a glamorous beginning. The celebs rubbed shoulders with some of the best in Asia and the motley crowd loved every moment of it.

The team of Andrew Pitts, Jaideep Chitlangia, P Tulsian and B Khemka won the pro-am event with an aggregate of 21-under 123 over 18 holes. Pitts played a round of five-under 67. Among other professionals today, Thailand’s Thong Choi Jaidee also had a round of 67 while James Kingston of South Africa, cot Laycock of Australia and Masdam Mamet of Singapore returned four-under 68 each. The Indians too had a feel of the course with Arjun Atwal and Vivek Bhandari warming up with four-under 68, while Jyoti Randhawa and Amritinder Singh played two-under 70. Feroz Ali, the reigning champion had a level round today. Gaurav Gheiand Basad Ali went one-over 73.

The Indian Open, in it’s fourth successive year at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, has thrown up quite a few true champions over the years. If Ed Fryatt was the start-to-finish winner in 1997, Feroz Ali was a surprise winner with a 14-under score last year. This time, there are 151 golfers teeing off on Day one, 146 of them professionals on the Asian PGA tour. Of course, the attention will be on Thailand’s Boonchu Raungkit and Prayad Markseang, Korea’s Kang Wook-Song and Choi Kyung-Joo, India’s Jyoti Randhawa and of course, Feroz Ali. Wook-Song is the current leader in the Order of Merit with an earnings of $150,771. The Indian Open will be his 10th stop on the tour. Raungkit is seventh in the list while Hendrik Buhrmann of South Africa is 10th. They are the three top-10 golfers vying for the $50,100 winner’s cheque. Among Indians, Jyoti Randhawa is 22nd, with earnings of $52,128 from 12 tournaments. Feroz Ali is 24th with $51,937. Ed Fryatt, currently placed second on theOrder of Merit, decided to skip the Indian Open this time.