Tip-Toeing onto the 9th green, the evening sun behind him and a five-foot putt between that and another blistering start, Jyoti Randhawa stumbled just that little bit. His touch on the greens all day eluded him the one time, and that missed par slid him out of the leader-pack. On the sunny first day of the Asian Tour SAIL Open, the hills at Jaypee Greens were lorded over by Scotsman Ross Bain and Australian Tony Carolan, at six-under each. Randhawa is in a pack of six, one rung below — and the best home player. There had been another stumble by another Indian a few holes away and some hours before. Kapurthala teenager Gaganjeet Bhullar was burning the course to go six-under after just 13 holes. Then on the par-three 14th, he missed an even shorter par putt — barely one foot — than Randhawa’s, to spark a spectacular tumble that ended with his day’s score two-under. He had six birdies, two bogeys and a disastrous double on the par-five 14th where he went from one clump of trees to another. Starting in the warm afternoon on the 10th, Randhawa was at his magical best from the very start, an eagle to attest his comfort with this course. He was just 10 feet short of the green with the drive, then chose to take out his putter and sank it right in. Finding the hole with single putts on the 13th and then the 18th, he was four-under with nine to go. He then missed another eagle by a whisker on the par-five 2nd, straying just a little too right with the putt from the edge of the green, as the birdie moved him to five-under. A downhill 12-footer birdie on the 7th followed. “It was a good start, but disappointing to finish with a bogey,” Randhawa said after the finish. Playing partner Scott Hend was helping keep up the birdie-charge on his own, matching steps with Randhawa with some stunning approaches to the pin. He too finished on five-under.Bain’s round was put together with flawless putting, though if not for the lip-out on the 17th and another short miss on the 18th, he would’ve easily out-shot top-spot sharer Carolan. SSP Chowrasia’s presence drew eyeballs but the game didn’t. His usual strength of tinkering around the greens was the culprit today. With the chipping-putting switch turned off, it was only a level par first round that he could scramble together. There are 21 other players with him at the 51st spot, including Gaurav Ghei. SCORES (after 18 holes)66 — Ross Bain (SCO), Tony Carolan (AUS); 67 — Lam Chih Bing (SIN), Peter Cooke (AUS), Dinesh Chand (FIJ), Adam Groom (AUS), Jyoti Randhawa (IND), Scott Hend (AUS); 68 — Will Yanagisawa (USA), Dinesh Kumar (IND), Noh Seung-yul (KOR), Wu Ashun (CHN), Angelo Que (PHI), Danny Chia (MAS)
