Shiv tied 29th, Jyoti gropes for touch in Singapore Masters

Singapore, Mar 9(UNI) Shiv Kapur's opening round woes came to haunt him before the Indian fired a quartet of sucessive birdies for his one-under 71 that fetched him the tied 29th place in the OSIM Singapore Masters here today.

It turned out to be a day of forgettable outings for other Indians in the fray, especially Jyoti Randhawa whose two-over 74 saw him finishing way down the leaderboard at tied 92nd.

Meanwhile, Australian Marcus Fraser joined local favourite Mardan Mamat at the top of the table at seven-under 65 at the par-72 Laguna National Golf and Country Club.

After a string of five par shots, Shiv stumbled on a bogey on the sixth and dropped two more in the first two holes on his way back.

Undeterred Shiv then reeled off four successive birdies from the 12th hole to put himself back on the track.

Luck, however, was not so good for Randhawa. Groping for his touch , the highest ranked Indian birdied the second hole but could repeat it only once in the 15th, while dropping a bogey on the sixth and three more on his way back -- on the 10th, 11th and 16th.

Tied 19th in the Indonesian Open, Rahil Gangjee too would like to forget the day as he managed only three birdies, while dropping eight bogeys, including six in his back nine.

Among others, Amandeep Johl's level-par show fetched him the tied 44th place, while Gaurav Ghei (tied 64th) carded one-over 73, Jeev Milkha Singh (tied 108th) stuttered to three-over 75 and Harmeet Kahlon (146th) struggled for his six-over 78.

UNI XC/AY ND1724