Chandigarh, November 17

Ahmedabad’s Anshul Patel hogged the limelight with a sizzling first round of 9-under 63 to lead by three shots at the 21st edition of the Indian Oil SERVO Masters Golf Championship.

Shravan Desai, another Ahmedabad-based professional, was tied second at 6-under 66 in the Rs60-lakh event. Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (66) too took a share of second place on Day 1.

As many as 18 players out of a total of 117 could not finish their first round on Wednesday. They will come back and resume their round at 6 am tomorrow. Left-handed rookie Patel, currently ranked 74th in the PGTI Order of Merit and fighting for a spot in the top-60 to retain his card for next year, played some great wedge shots on the back-nine that helped him set up four of his five birdies before the turn. He also had a 20-feet conversion on the 16th and a bogey on the 17th.

Desai, another rookie like Patel, shot an error-free 66 in his very first competitive round at the Digboi Golf Links. Desai, currently 68th in the PGTI’s money list, is also vying for a spot in the top-60 to retain his PGTI card. Sandhu produced eight birdies and two bogeys during his 66.

Gurugram’s Shivendra Singh Sisodia, former champion Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh and Panchkula’s Angad Cheema were in tied fourth having shot scores of 67.