Gurugram: On another fog-truncated day when seasoned pros struggled due to the cramped schedule and the myriad challenges the DLF Golf and Country Club course threw up, teenager Kartik Singh provided the bright spark in the International Series India event on Saturday. The 15-year-old, a DLF academy trainee playing at home, became the youngest Indian – fourth youngest in Asia — to make the cut in an international professional event.
Kartik carded an impressive one-under 71 second round to be four-over at the halfway mark, safely making the cut that was applied at 8-over par. He had five birdies (5th, 6th, 8th, 10th and 11th holes), two bogeys and a double bogey on the downhill par-3 16th.
“This is my home course, so I definitely have that advantage and then I know if I play my best game, I’ll be able to compete with the pros. Yesterday was not that good, but I’m still happy that I was able to make the cut. Hopefully I can play well this weekend. I was four-under after 11 holes, but that’s okay. I mean, I’m still happy with 1-under on this course,” he said after his round.
The high of making the cut though was followed by an error-prone third round on Saturday afternoon. He started on the 11th hole following a shotgun start, and birdied it, but then made five bogeys and two double bogeys, dropping to T-66 at 12-over par when the round was halted with Kartik still to play nine holes.
“On this course, I feel if you’re too aggressive it’s most likely going to backfire because the way the course is, it’s difficult to make birdies. If you can make a birdie, it’s good. Otherwise, you just want to keep making pars because that’s good enough here.”
Having only played one Asian Development Tour event in his young career, this was only Kartik’s second professional tournament. It was a “dream come true” playing alongside two-time Major champion Bryson DeChambeau, LIV Tour star Joaquin Niemann and Anirban Lahiri.
“I still can’t believe I am playing alongside these guys,” he gushed. The youngster stood next to DeChambeau at the driving range on Friday and was left awe-truck watching one of the game’s foremost ball-strikers.
“It seemed very different because I’m not used to seeing the ball fly that far. The ball normally is supposed to fall down before that. His ball just keeps flying. It was motivating. Hopefully, I can increase my distance and get closer to him,” he added.
In all, 10 Indians made the cut with Lahiri (-1) leading the way. He was 3-over after going 4-over in the first eight holes of the third round. Other than Lahiri, no Indian broke par at the halfway stage. Gaganjeet Bhullar the nearest at 2-over par.
After round 3 began with the shotgun start, the leaderboard fluctuated till hooter was sounded at around 6 pm as darkness enveloped with no player completing more than nine holes. Briton Paul Casey with an admirable six-under in his nine holes was the best in the penultimate round while Lahiri and Bhullar were 3-over par through eight holes. Karandeep Kochhar was the only Indian player who was under par, for a 7-over total after nine following two birdies and a bogey.
Chilean Joaquin Niemann, who led by 2 shots at the halfway mark, held the clubhouse lead at seven-under, 1-under after eight holes in Round 3. Japan’s Kazuki Higa was a stroke behind. DeChambeau was tied eighth at 1-under while India’s Shubhankar Sharma, who made the cut at 6-over par, had dropped three more shots in his first nine holes.
