He gave away nothing with the matter-of-fact look on the face, but the penalty drop was clearly blotting Gaganjeet Bhullar’s agenda for the day. Having come off a bogey courtesy a plugged tee shot on the par-four 13th hole, Bhullar had hit a monster drive on the par-five 14th hole — his fifth of the round — in trying to make it up right away. Unfortunately, the aggressive intent of reaching the green with his second shot ended in thorny bushes of the out-of-bounds area just in front, and after the necessary drop, the subsequent twelve-footer for par never looked like going in. It wasn’t quite the round anyone had visualised for the 21-year-old, and despite a birdie-birdie finish, Bhullar could only manage a one-over 73 opener to the first Indian Open he has started shouldering home hopes.

That flag on Thursday was picked up by a name that was less of a surprise than it seems. C Muniyappa might not have been among the hot picks, but the Bangalore pro has been a different player since making his first overseas Asian Tour cut at the Brunei Open this August. Muniyappa’s six-under 66 has him as the best Indian, tied for third along with Australian Jason King, and two shots behind another Aussie, Adam Blyth.

Muniyappa was at a hardly exciting one-under after 14 holes, when his chip from 25 yards on the par-four 15th landed on the green, rolled and dropped into the cup to give the 32-year-old an eagle and a fillip that lasted all the way to the finish. Muniyappa birdied the three remaining holes to make the huge jump on the leaderboard.

... contd.