Clubhouse leader Jairaj, from Chandigarh, was closely followed by Mani Ram, who scored a 69 to finish second in the clubhouse. Veer Ahlawat, Yuvraj Singh, and Sanjeev Kumar shared third place with scores of 70.
The start of play was delayed by 15 minutes due to fog in the morning. As a result, 22 players out of a total of 126 could not finish their first round on Tuesday when play was suspended at 5:35 pm because of fading light. These 22 players are scheduled to restart their first round at 7 am on Wednesday morning. Round two will begin after the completion of round one.
Among players with unfinished first rounds, Mari Muthu R was in the best position, standing at one-under after 15 holes. Meanwhile, Yuvraj Sandhu, leader of the PGTI Order of Merit, scored a 73 in his opening round.
On a high-scoring first day, the left-handed Jairaj Singh Sandhu had a slow start with a bogey and a birdie on the back nine. Afterwards, Jairaj, a winner on the PGTI, made his mark on the leaderboard with three consecutive birdies from the first to the third holes, thanks to a couple of excellent shots from the fairway and a long putt on the green.
The 28-year-old Jairaj, currently 25th on the PGTI Ranking with a runner-up finish to his credit this year, went on to add another birdie with his longest conversion of the day, a 25-footer on the sixth.
Jairaj said, “The conditions were not easy because it was quite cold during the start of my round and it took some time for me to get warmed up. The pin positions were also tough. Keeping these factors in mind I feel I did well to shoot a four-under.
“Being a left-hander who hits a fade, it’s easier for me to use my driver on a couple of holes at this course like the third and 18th. That’s a slight advantage that a left-hander enjoys at those two holes at the DGC I would say. I’ve had a patchy season so far but this good start gives me an opportunity to make an impact this week.”
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