Fireworks from Rashid Khan on Diwali day, leads with a 66 at Aamby Valley

Delhi golfer fires six consecutive birdies in opening round

Aamby Valley City, Maharashtra, November 13, 2012: Rashid Khan set the
Aamby Valley Golf Course alight with his own display of fireworks on
Diwali day. The Delhi golfer shot an outstanding six-under-66 to lead
the field in round one of the PGTI Players Championship presented by
Aamby Valley City. Sudhir Sharma of Meerut was in second place with a
round of 67.

Rashid Khan made merry in the opening round with as many as nine
birdies against three bogeys. The 21-year-old started his round from
the 10th and had a terrific first nine as he scored six consecutive
birdies from the 11th through the 16th. He narrowly missed an eagle
from 80 yards on the 12th as his third shot lipped out of the hole and
gave him a one foot birdie putt. Rashid, a winner on the PGTI this
season, landed the ball within five to seven feet for birdies on the
11th, 13th and 15th and converted a 15-footer for birdie on the 16th.

RashidⳠbogey on the 17th was negated by another splendid approach
shot on the 18th that set up a two feet birdie putt for him. A 15-feet
birdie putt followed on the fifth. He finally closed with
bogey-bogey-birdie on the seventh, eighth and ninth.

㉴Ⳡbeen a fantastic day for me and an ideal start to the week. This
is my first ever tournament at the Aamby Valley Golf Course and I
really enjoyed myself out there. I had a dream start with six straight
birdies. My iron-play was great and I did well with the wedges. I
missed a couple of chip-putts to drop bogeys but closed the day with a
good chip-putt for birdie on the ninth.

㉴ was a good day for scoring since there was no wind and I managed
to capitalize on that. One needs to drive it well on this course in
order to shoot good numbers,䠳aid Rashid, currently ranked second on
the 2012 Rolex Rankings.

Sudhir Sharma fired a five-under-67 to be placed second. His round
featured six birdies and a bogey.

ChandigarhⳠHarendra Gupta, M Dharma of Bangalore, Australian Kunal
Bhasin and Delhi-based Raj Randhawa are in joint third with matching
scores of 68.