Jeev Milkha Singh ended his round in sizzling fashion when he shot a superb six-under 66 in the opening round of the $-900,000 Caltex Singapore Masters, presented by Carlsberg.
The ace Indian was just one stroke off the pace in the European and Asian PGA Tour joint sanctioned event, which began at the par-72 Laguna National Masters course at Singapore, today.
When thunderstorms suspended play with half the field yet to finish their round, Jeev was tied for second place in the clubhouse behind Benn Barham of England.
Barham, playing without the benefit of any practice round, shot a seven-under 65.
Tied along with Jeev at six-under 66 were Paul Broadhurst and Simon Khan (both England).
Defending champion Arjun Atwal also made a superb start before his round was cut short by the thunderstorm.
Playing in the same group as world No 2 Ernie Els, Atwal was five-under after 15 holes. Els made four birdies in the last five holes to join Atwal in tied fifth place on the leaderboard.
Among other Indians, Jyoti Randhawa, playing his first event in Asia as the No 1 golfer of the continent, shot a two-under 70, which included a depressing double bogey on the final hole.
Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra birdied his first three holes and was three-under after six holes, while Amandeep Johl was level par after nine.
Arjun Singh struggled to a four-over after nine holes, and Harmeet Kahlon made a triple and a double bogey on the third and fourth holes to finish the day at a forgettable five-over 77.
Jeev, who is sponsored by Hero Honda Motors, played a solid round in which he made just one bogey and seven birdies. He began from the first tee and birdies on the par-5 second and seventh and the par-3 fifth saw him make the turn at three-under. On the back nine, he bogied the tenth and a birdie on the 13th saw him reach the 16th hole at same score. However, he blitzed the tough finishing holes of Laguna National and finished with birdies on each of the holes.
On the par-4 16th, Jeev crushed his driver and hit his pitching wedge second shot to eight feet. On the difficult and long 201-yard par-3, he hit a 4-iron to less than four feet and drained an eight-footer on the par-4 18th.
"I am very happy with the way I began the year. My driving was a bit wayward but I was hitting it long. I recently signed up with Nike and I am using their new TA2 Long balls, which performed beautifully during the round," said the 32-year-old Chandigarh-based pro.
Atwal made seven birdies but would be kicking himself for making bogies on the two par-5 holes -- the seventh and 11th.
"That was quite a dampener to a very good round. The way I was striking the ball, I should have been at least seven or eight under," said the Indian star.
Randhawa looked his brilliant self before a disastrous final hole. The Gurgaon-based golfer started from the tenth tee and was even-par at the turn with birdies on the 11th and 18th and successive bogies on the 15th and 16th holes. However, he caught fire on his back nine, making birdies on the par-4 third and fourth holes and the seventh and eighth holes to go to four-under.
On the par-4 ninth, a difficult 449-yard long hole, he made a double bogey to finish the day at two-under.
"I'm not really disappointed to have stopped," admitted Els. "I can go home now because I'm happy with the way I came back on the back nine. I hit a good drive down the 16th so we can go home happy and come back tomorrow, it doesn't make any difference."
Exactly half the field -- 72 players - will have to return in the morning at 8.00am to complete their first rounds, before the second round, which will be delayed by one hour and 15 minutes, begins.
