Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar made a positive start on the first day of the Singapore Open, shooting seven birdies and two bogeys to finish in Top 0 after the opening round here at the Singapore Island Country Club. Bhullar’s promising show in the first round saw him shoot 5-under with a total of 67 in the US$2 million event. He currently lies 3 shots off the leader, South Korean Jeunghun Wang, who shot a sparkling 8-under 64 on a rather high-scoring day in Singapore. After a sedate start with 3 birdies against 2 bogeys over his first 12 holes, Bhullar’s round came to life between holes 13 and 17, reeling in 4 birdies in that 5-hole stretch. Among other Indians, Ajeetesh Sandhu and the veteran SSP Chawrasia were 3 shots further back from Bhullar at 70 (-2).
Earlier in the day, Korea’s Jeunghun Wang was the first to make the most out of the Moutai Singapore Open’s return to take the lead on the opening day. The tournament was last played in 2022, while it is the first time it has been held at Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) in a quarter of a century. Wang celebrated the occasion by shooting nine birdies and dropping just one shot. He leads by a stroke from Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Gunn Charoenkul plus Kieran Vincent from Zimbabwe, all in with 65s – here on the New Course at SICC. Kiradech made bogey on the last, having looked set to finish the day tied for first.
Germany’s Dominic Foos, winner of the SJM Macao Open three weeks ago, Americans Micah Shin, Ollie Schniederjans and Caleb Surratt, and Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong are next best placed followings 66s. Wang burst onto the scene just under a decade ago winning three times on the European Tour. One of those was joint-sanctioned with the Asian Tour: the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in 2016. Not long after that he went for 18 months national service in Korea, and he has been gradually working his way back since.
