Colombo [Sri Lanka], December 23 (ANI): Aryan Roopa Anand, enjoying the historic Royal Colombo Golf, for the primary time, produced one in every of his finest rounds as an expert with a 9-under 62 on the opening day of the IGPL Invitational Sri Lanka, the ultimate occasion of 2025 IGPL Tour, in accordance with a launch.
The two-time All India novice champion, Aryan opened birdie-birdie and closed similarly and had a complete of 9 birdies and an eagle in opposition to one bogey on both sides of the Royal Colombo. But the person having most enjoyable appeared to be India’s finest recognized skilled golfer ever, Jeev Milkha Singh, who was enjoying his first IGPL occasion. Jeev, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour and 4 occasions in Japan, Jeev shot 7-under, which included a run of 5 birdies in final six holes to lie second.
Lying third was native teen, Kaya Daluwatte, who shot 6-under 65. She was additionally the highest lady within the subject after the primary day. The subsequent finest lady was IGPL Mumbai winner, Pranavi Urs, who tumbled from 5-under by 15 holes to 2-under with a bogey-double bogey-par end over the past three holes, the discharge mentioned.
The 54-year-old Jeev was happy not solely along with his rating, but in addition the presence of so many younger stars within the IGPL subject, as a number of legends shared the stage with Gen Next of Indian golf.
The present IGPL Order of Merit chief, Aman Raj and six-time Asian Tour winner SSP Chawrasia have been tied fourth at 4-under, whereas the 11-time Asian Tour winner, additionally a double winner at IGPL, Gaganjeet Bhullar, the extremely constant Sachin Baisoya, promising Veer Ganapathy, IGPL UAE winner, Karandeep Kochhar, and Harendra Gupta have been in a five-way tie for the sixth place.
It was a really sturdy leaderboard on a low-scoring day when 10 gamers went four-under or higher.
Jeev remarked, ‘I do not assume is a professional Tour like this wherever. The IGPL is getting the legends of Indian golf to play in similar subject as promising younger stars, lots of whom are nonetheless amateurs. This will assist the younger stars study by simply watching the seniors. Plus, we had some excellent girls gamers,’ mentioned Jeev, who now divides his time between the senior Tours in Europe and Japan and a few occasions on the Asian Tour.
Jeev’s group included Veer Ganapathy, son of former touring professional, Rahul Ganapathy, whereas Jyoti’s son Zorarvar was within the group with Gaganjeet Bhullar and Harjai performed within the group which had Jyoti Randhawa.
Among the legends, Jeev had one of the best rating at 7-under, SSP Chawrasia shot 5-under, Gaganjeet Bhullar shot 4-under, and Jyoti Randhawa went 1-over 72. Among the younger stars Veer carded 4-under 67, Zoravar shot even par 71 and Harjai carded 3-over 74.
Leader Aryan, who continues to be trying to find his first professional win, mentioned, ‘I used to be fairly relaxed in the present day and, the putter was rolling properly, so it turned out to be a reasonably good rating. I did shoot one thing like 6-under at Ahmedabad and I wished to go previous it. When I used to be 7-under with two holes one of many guys mentioned, it is going to be nice to complete birdie-birdie. And it occurred.’
Jeev, making his debut on the IGPL, was thrilled to play with a bunch of younger stars in the identical subject. ‘I’ve at all times wished to play this historic course, however it by no means occurred. It lastly did as I performed the Pro-Am with the legendary cricketer, Mahela Jayawardene and it was nice enjoyable, and he performs very properly.’
‘As for in the present day, it was my first aggressive spherical in Colombo. It was extremely popular however I obtained used to it as I went alongside. After being two-under for the primary 12 holes, it was nice to complete with 5 birdies within the final six holes,’ mentioned Jeev, who additionally caught up with outdated buddies.
‘I’ve performed a lot golf with Jyoti Randhawa and SSP Chawrasia. It was enjoyable to be within the subject with them once more in the present day. But the added pleasure was to play in a subject which additionally included Jyoti’s son, Zoravar; my son, Harjai and Veer Ganapathy, son of Rahul Ganapathy.’
Jeev after being simply 2-under for the primary 12 holes. He was attempting to get used to the warmth in what’s his first look in Colombo. Then Jeev discovered a distinct gear and birdied 4 in a row from the thirteenth to the sixteenth, missed a birdie on the 17tth and closed once more with a birdie to make it 5 birdies in final six holes.
Fulfilling native aspirations was Kaya Daluwatte, a Sri Lankan novice with nice potential, who earlier this yr was picked as one of many promising stars for R&A’s Academy in New Zealand.
Kaya, who has represented Sri Lanka on the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP), shot 6-under 65, that included a surprising run of six birdies in final seven holes. She was additionally the highest lady participant within the subject, ‘It was an incredible to play alongside two Olympians Udayan Mane and SSP Chawrasia, who’re each nice gamers and I learnt a lot, simply watching them,’ mentioned the 16-year-old Kaya, who will likely be becoming a member of school golf within the US when she joins Pepperdine subsequent yr. (ANI)