Veer Ahlawat shoots 65 for two-shot lead at CIDCO Open

Navi Mumbai, Dec 16 (PTI) India’s Veer Ahlawat continued his consistent form with a solid six-under 65 to grab a two-shot lead on day one of the Rs 1 crore CIDCO Open here on Tuesday.

Italy’s Michele Ortolani and American Koichiro Sato shot scores of four-under 67 at the Par-71 course to occupy tied second position after the first-ever competitive round being played at the KVGC.

There were two more foreign players in the top-eight as Uganda’s Joshua Seale and Sri Lankan N Thangaraja were tied fourth with scores of 68 along with the Indian trio of Manoj S, Dhruv Sheoran and Manu Gandas.

Dipankar Kaushal (69) and Mani Ram (75) fired holes-in-one to be tied 10th and tied 69th respectively. Mani Ram, who scored the first hole-in-one at the new venue, had his moment of glory on the 17th hole while Dipankar achieved the feat on the third hole.

Veer, who won on the PGTI two weeks back, got some early momentum with a three-feet birdie conversion on the 12th and a 20-feet eagle conversion on the 14th.

The 29-year-old Veer, taking full advantage of his long-hitting prowess on a course suited for long hitters, made further strides with birdie tap-ins on the first and second holes. He drained a 15-footer for his last birdie of the day on the fourth. PTI ATK PDS PDS