Phuket Championship: Udayan Mane, Veer Ahlawat best-placed Indians at tied-4th spot after first round

Udayan Mane, one of the most consistent players on the Indian circuit, proved his class on Asian soil as well, shooting a terrific 4-under 66 in the first round of the Phuket Championship to tie for fourth position.

The young gun Veer Ahlawat accompanied Udayan at the tied-4th place after the end of day 1 one campaign at the US$1,000,000 prize money event.

Udayan, who was at 7-under thru 16 holes, made a small error and hit a loose shot that resulted in triple-bogey on the par-4 7th hole to end his day at 4-under.

Veer, on the other hand, made only one bogey in his whole day and smashed five birdies to grab a place inside top-5 at the prestigious Asian Tour event.

South-Korean golfer Bio Kim, who shot a marvellous eight-under 62, took the solo lead heading into the second round. While, Australia’s Travis Smyth carded a spectacular 7-under 63 to claim the second spot at the challenging Laguna Phuket Golf Club.

Aside from Udayan and Veer, eight other golfers were tied for fourth place at 4-under 66. Veteran Shiv Kapur and 2018 Panasonic Open winner Khalin Joshi were at a tied-14th spot along with seven others.

Last week’s winner, Chan Shih-Chang, started his campaign with a disastrous 4-over 74 to sit outside top-100