Randhawa in a three-way lead

Minutes after shooting a 66, Randhawa, whose only missed cut in India on the domestic ciurcuit has been on this course last year, said, “but for the fact I missed small putts between eight and 12 feet, I could well have been eight or nine under.” Randhawa, who had a flawless round, missed another three to four birdies from less than 10 feet. Randhawa’s feelings on the green were echoed by almost everybody else, including Dyson and Casas.

The almost tree-less fairways coupled with some excellent iron play from some of the players, especially the leaders, Randhawa, Dyson and Casas, meant the players were actually tested only on the greens and in their putting. While Randhawa needed 30 putts for his round, Dyson and Casas went through in about 27 each. Casas had an eagle to boot on the par four fourth. Little wonder then Randhawa was not happy with even a six-under card.

Randhawa, two-time winner of the Hero Honda Masters in 1998 and 1999 has once finished joint second in the Indian Open in 1996, when Hidezumi Shirakata won the title in Calcutta. He birdied the third, eighth, tenth, 14th, 15th and 18th holes.

Yorkshireman, Dyson, whose round today was his best ever in APGA, had an English friend as his caddie. Dyson who earned his card after going through all three stages of the Qualifying school this season, played brilliantly on the back nine, where he birdied five holes. In fact he needed just 13 putts for the return journey. He also hit some great approach shots and said, “the course is playing well, but the greens are a bit difficult outside six to eight feet.”

Amish Jaitha, a rookie on the APGA, who also came through the Q-school, had six birdies and one bogey as he played fearless golf, attacking the course from the word go.

Atwal, who hopes to emulate Jyoti Randhwa by becoming a repeat champion on the APGA and present the trophy his fiance, Ritika, ahead of their marriage early next month, shot a four under. He is bunched with a dozen others including Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng.

Two amateurs, Ashok Kumar, winner of the SAARC event in January and his teammate Rahil Gangjee, also went below par. Ashok carded a three-under 69 and felt he could have done better, while Gangjee, who at one stage had four birdies in a row from fifth to eighth holes, was two under for the day. A third amateur Saurabh Bahuguna came in with a par card.

Scores: 66 – Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Simon Dyson (Eng), Felix Casas (Phi); 67 – Brad Wilson (US), Robert Huxtable (US), Chung Joon (Kor), Amish Jaitha; (Ind) 68 – Arjun Atwal (Ind), Mike Cunning (US), Richard Kaplan (SAF), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Nico Van Rensburg (SAF), Danny Zarate (Phi), Jim Rutledge (Can), Anthony Kang (Kor), Stephen Lindskog (Swe), Adrian Percey (Aus), Gary Rusnak (US), Ashley Roestoff (SAF), Sammy Daniels (SAF)

69 – Andre Cruse (SAF), Justin Hobday (SAF), Craig Kamps (SAF), Rafael Ponce (Ecu), Nam Young-Woo (Kor) Ted Oh (Kor), Ashok Kumar (A) (Ind); 70 – Vivek Bhandari (Ind), Andrew Bonhomie (Aust), Hendrik Buhrman (SAF), Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Rodrigo Cuello (Phi), Mardan Mamat (Sing), Soushi Tajima (Jpn), Lu Wen The (Twn), Yeh Wei Tze (Twn), Ross Bain (Sco), Yusuf Ali (Ind), Tomoaki Ueda (Jpn), Lin Fu-Chin (Twn), Pan Yen-Kuo (Twn), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Chris Williams (SAF), Shinchi Akiba (Jpn), Trevor Immelman (SAF), James Kingston (SAF), Jeff Burns (US), Rail Gangjee (A) (Ind), Bobby Lincoln (SAF), Arden Knoll (Can).