KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 27
Top Nepali pro Sukra Bahadur Rai made a poor start in the Kapil Dev-Grant Thornton Invitational at DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurugram today.
Rai, who is playing in his first Professional Golf Tour of India, faltered on the back nine before settling for a four-over 76 in the INR one crore event.
He made a turn at even-par 36 riding on three birdies but Rai went on to drop six shots on four holes to finish the back nine at four-over 40.
The Nepal No 1 professional golfer started the round with a bogey and added two more on the seventh and ninth against birdies on the third, sixth and eighth. Rai saved pars on the first two holes after taking the turn but he had a disastrous four-hole stretch from the 12th and suffered two each bogeys and double bogeys. He made amends with an eagle on the final hole.
After the first round, Rai is one-shot below the projected cut line at tied 59th position with 11 other golfers. He has made cut in just one event in the last four tournaments and the Dharan-based golfer has not been able to make it to top 20 in the 10 PGTI events so far.
India's Dhruv Sheoran was the top after he carded four-under 68, while five golfers - Deepinder Singh Kullar, Trishul Chinnappa, Om Prakash Chouhan, Sunhit Bishnoi and Mukesh Kumar - shared the second place at two-under 70.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 28, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
