Thaindian News

Shenzhen, Nov 27 (IANS) Indian golfers Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa shot a bogey free round, but still found themselves five shots off the lead at the end of the first day if the Omega Mission Hills World Cup here Thursday.Jeev, ranked 45th in the world, and Randhawa finished the first round with a score of five-under 67. The leaders were Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka, who shot a 10-under 62.

Jeev admitted that it could have been a lot better with some better putting as the Indian duo left a lot of birdies out there, though the Indians were the second best Asian team after Japan, whose Ryuji Imada and Toru Taniguchi, who shot a 66.

“It was tough to swallow. I think we could have done better than that. We’ll take it as we’re not badly placed. It’s going to be a test for us. But we are both hitting the ball well and hopefully we’ll come out well from that,” said Jeev.

His team mate Randhawa, added: “The only good thing we did was that we didn’t drop a shot. There were times that we were looking like we would drop a bogey and that would have been bad. We didn’t combine as well as we could have. Five under is not a great score but being bogey free was good.”

Germany’s Kaymer and Cejka stormed into lead after a blistering ten-under par in the fourball first round took them one-stroke clear of Australia.

The pair, who finished sixth last year, got off to a flying start on the Olazábal Course at Mission Hills with four birdies in the first four holes and when Kaymer eagled the seventh they were in front. More birdies followed, with three in succession from the ninth, and another on the 15th gave them a better ball score of 62.

Australia’s Richard Green and Brendan Jones opened this account with a 63 while Canada, Spain and the United States were gathered on eight under par. Tournament favourites Sweden are in the group on seven under but the defending champions and host nation struggled to find top gear on the opening day.

“Martin played really solid golf today. He made a lot of birdies, an eagle, and I just tried to contribute a couple of times. We have three more rounds to go and we are delighted to be here. We are leading, and I think it’s a great start for Germany,” said Cejka.

Colin Montgomerie and Alastair Forsyth couldn’t buy a putt as Scotland finished on four under par while China came unstuck on the last when Liang Wen-chong and Zhang Lian-wei double bogeyed the hole after both players found the water.

First round scores (fourball): 62 Germany (Martin Kaymer, Alex Cejka); 63 Australia (Richard Green, Brendan Jones); 64 Canada (Graham Delaet, Wes Heffernan), US (Ben Curtis, Brandt Snedeker), Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez, Pablo Larrazabal; 65 New Zealand (Mark Brown, David Smail), Denmark (Soren Hansen, Anders Hansen), Ireland (Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley), Sweden (Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson); 66 Japan (Ryuji Imada, Toru Taniguchi), Mexico (Daniel De Leon, Osca Serna); 67 India (Jeev Mikha Singh,Jyoti Randhawa), Chile (Felipe Aguilar, Mark Tullo), Portugal (Tiago Cruz, Ricardo Santos), Philippines (Angelo Que, Mars Pucay); 68 France (Gregory Havret , Gregory Bourdy), Chinese Taipei (Lin Wen-tang,Lu Wen-teh), South Korea (Bae Sang-moon, Kim Hyung-tae), Scotland (Alastair Forsyth, Colin Montgomerie); 69 Thailand (Prayad Marksaeng, Thongchai Jaidee), Wales (Bradley Dredge, Richard Johnson), England (Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher), Finland (Roope Kakko, Mikko Korhonen), Guatemala (Pablo Acuna, Alejandro Villavicencio), China (Liang Wen-chong, Zhang Lian-wei); 70 Italy (Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari), South Africa (Rory Sabbatini, Richard Sterne);
71: Venezuela (Miguel Martinez, Rual Sanz)