KATHMANDU, JANUARY 27
Nepali professional golfer Niraj Tamang made an impressive start in the Pre Qualifying-III of the Tata Steel PGTI Qualifying School at the Golmuri Golf Course in Jamshedpur on Friday.
Tamang carded three-under 69 in the first round of the 36- hole contest and shared the seventh position with three other Indian golfers, Rishi Kumar, Nikhil Kumar Sharma and Shabeg Singh Kooner.
American pro, Varun Chopra carded 10-under 62 to take fivestroke lead over Indian duo Jay Pandya and Ashish Kumar Gupta, while three golfers - Aryaman Aditya Mohan Lal, Daksh Shokeen and Minwoo Park - shared the fourth position at four-under 68.
The Dharan-based pro, Tamang - who finished second in the Surya Nepal Eastern Open at hisbackyard in December last year - carded one-under 35 on the front nine with the help of a birdie on the third hole. He then played two-under 34 on the latter half. Tamang faced a lone bogey of the day on the 12th, while he carded three birdies on the 11th, 15th and 16th holes.
Top 23 plus ties from the Pre Qualifying-III will join 23 players of PQ-I and 21 from PQ-II along with 52 exempt golfers in the Final Qualifying Stage slated for January 31 to February 3 at the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata. Nepal No 1 pro Sukra Bahadur Rai - who finished at the 67th position in the Order of Merit of the Indian Tour last season - will compete in the Final Stage.
Top 34 golfers in the Final Stage will earn full cards for the 2023 PGTI season. Rai had won full cards for the previous season but he failed to protest the card after he could not finish in top 60 in the Order of Merit.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 28, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
