Sports
Rai takes 3-shot lead after Round 1
Sukra Bahadur Rai took the first round lead of the Faldo Series Nepal Championship junior golf tournament at the Gokarna Golf Club on Tuesday.Sukra Bahadur Rai took the first round lead of the Faldo Series Nepal Championship junior golf tournament at the Gokarna Golf Club on Tuesday.
Competing in the boys’ 17-21yrs age-group category, Rai carded four-over 76. Rai shot one-under 35 on the front nine and five-over 41 on the back nine. Tejendra Thapa Magar and Yubraj Bhujel were three shots behind Rai as the Nepali duo carded seven-over 79 on Tuesday. Raju Diwakar was next at nine-over 81. Rai sank a birdie on the third hole and saved pars on the next eight holes to take the turn. On the back nine, he dropped shots on the 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th holes before a double bogey on the 15th against a lone birdie on 17th a back nine of 41.
Aryaan Kumar and Tenzing Tshiring both carded four-over 76 to share the first round lead in the boys’ 12-16yrs category. The Dubai-based Indian player shot one-under 35 on the front nine that included birdies on first and third holes against a bogey on the sixth. His back nine card of five-over 41 included a double bogey on the 15th and bogeys on 11th, 14th and 16th holes.
Tshiring sank a birdie and saved pars on eight other holes for a front nine card of one-under 35. On his way back, he dropped shots on 10th, 11th and 15th. He also earned shots at 12th and 17th hole but a triple bogey on par-3 13th deprived him of take a solo lead. Luca Duidi of Italy, who carded seven-over 79, was three shots behind the leaders. Subash Ghising shot a 13-over 85 and Binod Tamang 14-over 86.
Sifat Kaur Alag of India leads the girls’ category with a card of seven-over 79. Pratima Sherpa of Nepal shot 17-over 89. Sifat carded four-over 40 on the front nine and for three-over 39 back nine. In all, 25 golfers aged between 12 to 21 years-old are taking part in the tournament. The winner of each of the three categories will qualify for the 11th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final to be hosted by Faldo in Danang, Vietnam next year in March.
Supported by The R&A and endorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the 2016-17 Faldo Series Asia campaign stretches over 11 months. Apart from two events in China, India and Thailand, the championships will be staged in Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.