Yashas Chandra, who showed a lot of promise last year by winning Chandigarh Junior Open golf tournament and Ooty Gymkhana tournament on the South Zone Junior Circuit, was two strokes behind leaders Shubankar Sharma of ITC Classic Golf Resort, New Delhi and D.Venkat Gautam of Boulder Hills Golf Resort, Hyderabad at the end of nine holes. But in the back nine, Yashas played a stable game to snatch the lead. Shubankar Sharma, the Toyota Etios Eastern India Junior golf tournament champion in 2011, blew away the lead to Yashas with a triple bogey at the 18th hole. Shubankar ended the day with a total score of 75, which put him in the second position, one stroke behind the leader as Yashas grabbed a 2 over 74.
One of the favourites at the start of the tournament, Manu Gandas of DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurgaon who has already notched up two wins this year at Toyota IGU Haryana Juniors and Rajasthan Junior Open Golf Championship, finished the day in the with a six over par 78 to be placed in the 14th position.
In Under 14 category, Gurgaon's PiyushSangwan (DLF Golf and Country Club) started off with a double-bogey on the first hole, but recovered his composure quickly with a birdie in the fourth hole and finished the front nine with a one stroke lead. With Tollygunge's Viraj Madappa and Prakhar Asawa from Rambagh Golf club close at his heels, Piyush maintained the momentum to emerge the frontrunner with a score of 73. VirajMadappa and PrakharAsawa ended the day at 2 over par 74.
With the top junior golfers turning in some good performances, KGA witnessed some great golf on the first day of the Toyota-IGU Southern India Juniors. With very few strokes separating the leaders from the rest of the players, the next three days promises more intense competition.
The Toyota IGU Junior Tour is always the most competitive because the tournaments are contested over four rounds of 18 holes each, on par with the biggest junior tournaments in the world. Points earned on the IGU tour determine rankings through which the IGU makes selections for tournaments like the Asia-Pacific Junior Championship in Thailand which was played last August. The prestigious international Duke of York Tournament invites players by virtue of winning the Toyota IGU All India Junior Championship. Selections are also made for the Malaysian Junior Open in September. So the tour opens up a huge number of opportunities for the top juniors.
Sourced From: PlayRight PR
