This Article is From Jul 09, 2010

Jeev off to strong start, Chowrasia in danger

Glasgow, Scotland: Jeev Milkha Singh put behind the shoulder injury that was plaguing his game and brought home a strong three-under 68 card to lie tied 12th after the opening round of the Scottish Open at the Loch Lomond Golf Club here.

Jeev was the lone Indian to finish the day with a sub-par card against his name and the next best was Shiv Kapur's even-par 71 that placed the Delhi golfer tied 44th.

Jyoti Randhawa, however, signed a one-over 72 to lie tied 75th and one shot behind him at tied 99th was Kolkata pro SSP Chowrasia who would have to card at least a two-under card in the second round to make the halfway cut.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke leads the chart at five-under 66 and trailing him from one shot behind was the trio of Damien McGrane, Edoardo Molinary and Graeme Storm.

Playing his back nine first, Jeev parred all nine holes in this stretch before he got busier on his front nine. The second hole cost Jeev his only bogey of the day but the affable Indian more than offset the setback with the third hole eagle to go one-under.

Jeev then picked up two more strokes on the fifth and seventh holes and parred the last two to bring home a three-under card and lie three shots off lead.

Meanwhile, Shiv Kapur was level-par at the turn with two birdies cancelling out the couple of bogeys he dropped on his front nine.

The Delhi golfer looked in trouble after bogeys on the 10th and 13th holes sent him two-over but back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes salvaged his card.

In contrast, Randhawa nailed his lone birdie on the 10th hole but couple of late bogeys left him with a one-over card.

In Chowrasia's case, it was a poor back nine -- where he dropped three bogeys and not a single birdie came by -- which pushed him to the back foot and the Kolkata pro could not really recover from there. 
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