New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS): Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain, fresh from his victory at the last PGTI event in Digboi, continued his hot streak with a brilliant five-under 67 to enjoy the clubhouse lead on Day One of the INR 2 crore Vishwa Samudra Open 2024 presented by Kapil Dev being played at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) here on Tuesday.
Chandimandir’s Ravi Kumar, Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu, Greater Noida-based Sudhir Sharma, Bengaluru’s M Dharma and Gurugram’s Manish Thakran were bunched in tied second place at scores of three-under 69.
The start of play was delayed by 40 minutes due to fog in the morning. As a result, 27 players out of a total of 124 could not complete their first round on Tuesday when play was suspended at 5:30 pm due to fading light. These 27 players are scheduled to resume their first round at 7 am on Wednesday. Round two will commence after the completion of round one.
On a high-scoring first day, Jamal Hossain began the week with a bang as he sank consecutive 15-footers to garner birdies on the first two holes. Five-time winner Jamal Hossain’s only bogey of the day came on the third after which he picked up the pace once again with birdies on the fourth, eighth and ninth where he landed his shots within five feet on two occasions and sank a 20-footer as well.
The 39-year-old, currently 17th on the PGTI Ranking, outshined the rest of the field in difficult conditions after he made all fairways and hit 16 greens in regulation. Despite Hossain not being at his best with the putter on the back-nine, he managed eight pars and a birdie with a 20-feet conversion on the closing 18th.
“At the DGC, you need to hit it straight and that’s what I did well today. The conditions were not easy because it was quite cold and it needed a lot of adjustment from my end since I come from a much warmer place. I hit all fairways and made 16 regulations which are excellent stats for this course. I also putted well on the front-nine," Jamal Hossain said.
“I feel I found my hitting form at the Jaipur event in mid-November. There’s been no looking back since then as the win in Digboi thereafter lifted my confidence further,” he added.
Among the prominent names, Rashid Khan was tied seventh at 70 while PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat was one-under through 15 holes.