Digvijay leads with a 66
on low scoring day

In an enthralling start to the new season of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour, Digvijay Singh shot a course record equalling six-under 66 and took sole possession of the lead after the opening round of the Rs 1.5 million Royal Springs Open, at the par-72, Royal Springs Golf Course, in Srinagar, on Thursday.

On a bright sunny day, the Indian professionals welcomed the 2002-03 season by recording as many as 16 sub-par scores. The icing on the cake were two hole-in-ones scored by Gaurav Diwan on the second hole, with a nine-iron tee shot, and Shamim Khan, with a six-iron on the outstanding fifth hole.

Gaurav will receive a Hero Honda Splendour motorcycle from the Tour sponsors for scoring the first ace of the tournament.

Veteran Ali Sher and youngster Shamim Khan were tied for the second place at five-under 67 while a bunch of players were in tied fourth place at four-under 68, including reigning Hero Honda Masters champion Harmeet Kahlon and Indian Open winner Vijay Kumar.

Jyoti Randhawa, making a comeback to professional golf after a five-month injury lay-off was going great guns before making an unfortunate triple bogey on the 15th hole (the 6th of the course after starting from the 10th tee).

Randhawa finished the day at three-under 69. Mukesh Kumar, India's number one player and the winner last year, had a nightmarish start with a five-over 77 while Sher-e-Kashmir Open runner-up Gaurav Ghei shot a forgettable three-over 75.

Digvijay matched the course record effort of Vijay Kumar in the final round of the Sher-e-Kashmir Open in October last year. But what pleased him more was the fact that there were no bogeys in the round.

"I played extremely solid and if I could have putted a bit better, I would have made at least three-four birdies more. But what really pleased me about the round was the fact that I did not make any mistake," said the 29-year old from Meerut who is looking for his second title on the Hero Honda Golf Tour after winning the 2000 BPGC Open in his Rookie Year.

Digvijay missed birdie putts from 10-feet on his first two holes before draining a six-footer on the third. His other birdies came on the sixth, seventh, ninth, 10th and 15th holes.

"The key of this course is not to miss the green on the wrong side. You can give yourself several birdie opportunities but you need to read the greens well," said Digvijay who finished third in the Indian Open earlier this year.

Ali Sher started with birdies on his first three holes and was six-under after ten holes with an eagle on the seventh and another birdie on the tenth. However, the twice Indian Open champion missed two birdie putts from less than four feet after that and three-putted the 11th for his only bogey.

Shamim Khan had two bogeys, five birdies and an ace in his 67.

SCORES (after 18 holes): 66_Digvijay Singh; 67_Ali Sher, Shamim Khan; 68_Vijay Kumar, Rahil Gangjee, Pappan, Feroz Ali, Harmeet Kahlon; 69_Jyoti Randhawa, Minky Barbora, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia; 70_Ashok Kumar, Binod Pandey, Ranjit Singh; 71_Vivek Bhandari, Dyal Singh.

AMATEURS: 73_Harinder Gupta, Vikrant Chopra; 77_Arjun Singh