Aryan lead at 9-under as Jeev lead Legends’ impressive show with 7-under

Colombo, Dec 23 (PTI) Aryan Roopa Anand produced one of his best rounds as a professional with a nine-under 62, while the legendary Jeev Milkha Singh fired a seven-under 64 on the opening day of the IGPL Invitational Sri Lanka, the final event of 2025 Tour.

The two-time All India amateur champion, Aryan opened birdie-birdie and closed in a similar fashion and had a total of nine birdies and an eagle against one bogey on each side of the Royal Colombo.

Jeev, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour and four times in Japan, picked up five birdies in last six holes to lie second.

Lying third was local youngster, Kaya Daluwatte, who shot 6-under 65. She was also the top woman in the field after the first day.

The next best woman was IGPL Mumbai winner, Pranavi Urs, who tumbled from 5-under through 15 holes to 2-under with a bogey-double bogey-par finish over the last three holes.

IGPL Order of Merit leader, Aman Raj and six-time Asian Tour winner SSP Chawrasia were tied fourth at 4-under, while Gaganjeet Bhullar, a double winner at IGPL, Sachin Baisoya, Veer Ganapathy, IGPL UAE winner, Karandeep Kochhar, and Harendra Gupta were in a five-way tie for the sixth place.

It was a very strong leaderboard on a low-scoring day when 10 players went four-under or better.

"I don’t think is a pro Tour like this anywhere," Jeev, who now divides his time between the senior Tours in Europe and Japan and some events on the Asian Tour, said in a release.

"The IGPL is getting the legends of Indian golf to play in same field as promising young stars, many of whom are still amateurs. This will help the young stars learn by just watching the seniors. Plus, we had some very good women players." Among the legends, Jeev had the best score at 7-under, Chawrasia shot 5-under, Bhullar shot 4-under, and Jyoti Randhawa went 1-over 72.

Among the young stars Veer carded 4-under 67, Zoravar shot even par 71 and Harjai carded 3-over 74.

Jeev was thrilled to play with a bunch of young stars in the same field.

"I have always wanted to play this historic course, but it never happened. It finally did as I played the Pro-Am with the legendary cricketer, Mahela Jayawardene and it was great fun, and he plays very well.” "As for today, it was my first competitive round in Colombo. It was very hot but I got used to it as I went along. After being two-under for the first 12 holes, it was great to finish with five birdies in the last six holes." PTI ATK