Poona golf: Azhar shoots seven-under for first-round lead

Pune, Oct 28 (PTI) Hyderabad golfer Mohammed Azhar shot a superb seven-under 64 to emerge leader by one stroke on the opening day of the Rs one crore The Poona Club Open, here on Tuesday.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu fired six-under 65 to be placed second at the Poona Club Golf Course, while Gurugram's Veer Ahlawat (66), the 2024 PGTI Ranking champion, was a further shot behind in third position.

The quintet of Akshay Damale, Aaron Rockey, Aditya Bhandarkar, Adityaa Garg and amateur Arkin Patel were the highest-placed among the Pune-based players as they returned scores of 71 to occupy tied 29th place.

Azhar, who has been in decent form in recent times with four top-10s to his name in his last six starts, began his week with a birdie-bogey. However, he soon began to stamp his authority by adding three more birdies on the front-nine including a 35-feet conversion on the third.

Azhar, ranked 23rd in the PGTI Order of Merit, picked up four more birdies on the back-nine including a tap-in and an 18-feet conversion.

"I hit it close to the flags all day. Here at the Poona Club Golf Course, there is a premium on hitting fairways and I hit a lot of fairways today. On the back-nine, my chipping and putting was outstanding because I did not hit any greens from hole 14 onwards and just made a lot of quality chip-putts," said Azhar. PTI AM SSC SSC