Bhullar inside top 10 on opening day of Singapore Open

Singapore, Nov 6 (IANS) India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar made a positive start on the first day of the Singapore Open, shooting seven birdies and two bogeys to finish on T10 after the opening round here at the Singapore Island Country Club.

Bhullar’s promising show in the first round saw him shoot 5-under with a total of 67 in the US$2 million event. He currently lies 3 shots off the leader, South Korean Jeunghun Wang, who shot a sparkling 8-under 64 on a rather high-scoring day in Singapore.

After a sedate start with 3 birdies against 2 bogeys over his first 12 holes, Bhullar's round came to life between holes 13 and 17, reeling in 4 birdies in that 5-hole stretch. Among other Indians, Ajeetesh Sandhu and the veteran SSP Chawrasia were 3 shots further back from Bhullar at 70 (-2).

Earlier in the day, Korea’s Jeunghun Wang was the first to make the most out of the Moutai Singapore Open’s return to take the lead on the opening day.

The tournament was last played in 2022, while it is the first time it has been held at Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) in a quarter of a century. Wang celebrated the occasion by shooting nine birdies and dropping just one shot.

He leads by a stroke from Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Gunn Charoenkul plus Kieran Vincent from Zimbabwe, all in with 65s – here on the New Course at SICC. Kiradech made bogey on the last, having looked set to finish the day tied for first.

Germany’s Dominic Foos, winner of the SJM Macao Open three weeks ago, Americans Micah Shin, Ollie Schniederjans and Caleb Surratt, and Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong are next best placed followings 66s.

Wang burst onto the scene just under a decade ago winning three times on the European Tour. One of those was joint-sanctioned with the Asian Tour: the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in 2016. Not long after that he went for 18 months national service in Korea, and he has been gradually working his way back since.

“I haven’t won a tournament in almost eight years, so I really want to get a win again,” said the 30-year-old.

“My irons were really good today — I hit the ball solid all day. My putting was hot too, and I didn’t really miss any shots. Overall, I’m very happy with how I played.”

Since his return to the game he has finished second twice and recorded two-other top five finishes on the Asian Tour. Kiradech, the Asian Tour Order of Merit champion in 2013, bogeyed the first and last, sandwiching nine birdies. On the par-five 18th he found water with his second shot, a four iron.

“Not the way I wanted to start and finish,” he said. “Alot of positives in there, a whole lot of good putts, and hitting. A lot of great shots today, looks like everything going the right plan. The rough pulled the clubface a little bit on the last. It turned the ball over right to left and into the water.”

Gunn’s strong start is timely as he is working hard to keep his card for next year. He is sitting in 56th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with four events remaining, including this week. He has been one the Tour’s most consistent performers over the past four years but has failed to find his rhythm this season.

“It’s not been a very smooth season,” he said. “Been a bit of a struggle on the second half of the season with my health, as well, and, you know, with bit of the equipment. So, with those two issues, you know, I'm borderline at the moment.

“I really want the win this week, you know. So, try to have confidence but not expecting anything. So yeah, hopefully it all turns out.”

He was unwell at the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea in September and lost 20 pounds. He never established what caused it. He has slowly returned to full fitness while a change in driver this week appears to be helping.

Vincent, brother of The International Series Rankings leader Scott Vincent, finished joint third in the Jakarta International Championship last month for his best performance of the season and still looks to be in good form.

It helped being paired in the same group as Foos and Shin. Said Vincent: “I was trying to play catch up to my playing partners. They got off to a flyer as well. And I'm like, I can't miss out on this party. And so, yeah, it was just kind of, we're feeding off some good energy out there, both Dominic and Micah. And so between the three of us, you know, we kind of saw a couple of putts go in. And, you know, from there, it was just kind of feeding off each other. And I thought, yeah, we did a really good job between three of us.”

Singapore amateur Troy Storm, who represented his country in the recent World Amateur Team Championship on home soil, fired a brilliant 67. The 16-year-old, playing on his home course, dropped a shot on the final hole but is still the leading local player.

Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, Kazuki Higa from Japan carded a 70, while Scott Vincent, who tops The International Series Rankings, returned a 72.

--IANS

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