Canizares, Whiteford share Avantha lead

Gurgaon: Alejandro Canizares of Spain and Peter Whiteford of Scotland with scores of 6-under 66 par were joint leaders at the end of round one of the third Avantha Masters golf tournament at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

Federico Colombo of Italy with a 67 was third, while Himmat Rai, who was tied fourth, had the best result among the Indians with a score of 4-under 68.

Jeev Milkha Singh, Anirban Lahiri and Vivek Bhandari were tied for 10th at 3-under. But it was a disappointing day for defending champion SSP Chowrasia who finished the day at joint 33rd along with Shiv Kapur.

Chowrasia, who injured his wrist during a practice session on Wednesday, could only manage a score of 1-under.

However, the real shocker came from the former PGA Championship and British Open winner John Daly of the United States who finished the day with a woeful seven-over to end up tied 127th.

Himmat Rai, who was tied fourth, had the best result among the Indians with a score of 4-under 68.

Canizers and Whiteford stole the show on a day when some of the big names fell by the wayside.

Canizers had a total of seven birdies to his name and the only letdown was a bogey on the 16th hole.

The Spaniard was understandably pleased with his performance.

“I played very steady and I putted quite nicely. The only mistake I made was missing a short putt on the seventh (his 16th) so I made a bogey. But overall it was a nice round with not many mistakes. I had a couple of wayward drives but nothing serious and I felt very comfortable,” he said.

Whiteford with the same number of birdies also incurred a bogey which came on the fifth hole, and shared the same emotions as Canizers.

“I had four birdies in a row from the tenth so that was a nice spurt to get me going. I three-putted the ninth for par so it really should have been five in a row, but I’ll take four. That was a good spell. I holed a great putt on the second from miles away so that gave me momentum from the start. It’s always a bonus to start with one of those. Other than that it was pretty solid,” the Scot said.

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