Golf
Verma braves the heat to shoot a sizzling 66, opens up two-shot lead over Mishra
Promising Ribhav Verma shot a sizzling bogey-free six-under 66 to hit the front on a scorching opening day of the IGU Hyderabad Amateur Golf Championship at the Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
For the last few days, the city has been experiencing intense heat with the summer heading to its peak. But the 18-year-old from Panchkula made light of the extreme heat to take a two-shot lead over Anshul Mishra (68) in the season’s third event. Parth Raman Sood was third one stroke further back at three-under and one ahead of the duo of Om Paldhikar and Vinamra Anand, the winner of the season opener.
Ribhav, playing his first full season on the amateur circuit, looked calm and composed, taking it one shot and one hole at a time. On a tight course where the focus was on accuracy rather than distance, Ribhav was spot on with his game.
He resorted to a percentage game and was less aggressive off the tee. The teenager’s approaches were immaculate, leaving him short birdie putts. The longest putt was a 12-footer on the par-5 18th.
A 10th tee starter, he missed a 12-footer putt for an eagle on the 14th hole, but settled for a birdie. After being two-under at the turn, he picked up shots on the first, par-3 third, where he hit his tee shot to two feet, fourth and sixth holes for his 66.
Mishra, winner of the previous tournament, began with a double bogey on the opening hole. But the youngster quickly got his game back on the rails for an impressive four-under 68.
Leading scores (after 18 holes): 66: Ribhav Verma; 68: Anshul Mishra; 69: Parth Raman Sood; 70: Om Paldhikar, Vinamra Anand; 71: Sunil S; 72: Adit Ahluwalia, Deepak Yadav, Arun Ahuja, Ranveer Mitroo, Kritansh Kapoor, Gurmanjit Singh Dhillon.