Golfer Malik sets course record in Bilt Open

Bangalore:Amardip Singh Malik of Meerut produced a perfect display in round one of the BILT Open to establish a course record -- of eight under 64 -- at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) here on Wednesday .

Malik, who now enjoys a three-stroke lead, broke the previous course record of seven under 65, which was jointly held by Jyoti Randhawa, Amandeep Johl and Harendra Gupta. Delhi`s Shamim Khan signed a card of five under 67 to end the day in second place. Malik, a 10th tee starter, bagged his first birdie of the day on the 11th, where he landed his bunker shot within 10 feet of the pin. The 25-year-old hit an excellent approach shot on the 17th that led to his second birdie of the day. The wiry Meerut lad`s putter was on fire on the second nine. After starting his inward journey with a birdie on the first, Malik holed a couple of monstrous putts from more than 30 feet for birdies on the third and fifth holes. He then missed the fairway on the sixth but made a great recovery with his nine-iron second shot to grab a birdie. The only blemish on Malik`s card was the bogey on the seventh but he followed that up with a magnificent tee shot on the par-three eighth, which stopped three feet short of the flag and led to a birdie. The eagle on the par-five ninth was the `icing on the cake` for Amardip. He holed his third shot (gap-wedge) from 137 yards on the ninth. "I had a poor practice round on Tuesday and therefore spent some time on the practice range thereafter. I just tried to keep it in play today, and fortunately for me, the putter was hot. I holed just about everything," said Amardip, who is currently 27th on the Rolex Rankings with three top 10s in the current Aircel PGTI season. "This score is quite special because the overnight rain had made the conditions tough and the ball did not have too much run on it. I have good memories at this course as I won my first event here -- the All India Juniors in 2002. I look forward to repeating that success at the professional level as well," Amardip added. Shamim Khan`s bogey-free 67 placed him second. Local favourite Anirban Lahiri and rookie Divyanshu Bajaj of Kolkata were joint third after they shot an identical 68. Ashok Kumar, the Rolex Rankings leader, began with a 70 to be tied 10th, while Gaganjeet Bhullar and C Muniyappa returned scores of 75 for a share of the 57th place. PTI