Day of disaster for Indian golfers at Macau Open

Macau, May 18 (UNI) Opening round woes returned to haunt Shiv Kapur who went seven-over 78 to tie for the 122nd place on a day of disaster as all the Indians went over-par in the first round of the 300,000 dollar Macau Open here today.

The Digvijay Singh-Rahil Gangjee duo carded identical rounds of two-over 73 and were the highest placed Indians at tied 46th.

Asian Tour Rookie of the Year 2005, Shiv Kapur played his back nine first and a triple bogey on the 11th -- his second -- augured a bad women even though a string of seven par shots meant there was no further setbacks till he made the midway turn.

His back nine turned out to be a horror story, as he bogeyed the first, dropped three shots on the par-four fifth hole, and signed off with a hat-trick of bogeys. Three birdies remained the only highlights of an erratic day for the Indian who was a relieved man after the trauma was over.

Among his compatriots, seasoned Amandeep Johl stuttered to four-over 75, as did Ashok Kumar who had finished fifth at the inaugural Aamby Valley Asian Masters in Mumbai last week.

Fellow Indians Uttam Singh Mundy, Arjun Singh and SSP Chowrasia carded three-over 74 for tied 61st place, followed by Johl, Ashok Kumar, Harinder Gupta, Amritinder Singh (all 75) and the trio of Gurbaaz Mann, Shiv Kapur and Jaiveer Virk (78).

Australian Marcus Booth fired a sparkling five-under 66 for a one-shot lead against Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei.

UNI