Sandhu Shoots 70, Kapur 71 in First Round at Singapore Open

Sentosa, Jan 17 (PTI) Ajeetesh Sandhu (70) and Shiv Kapur (71) had the best scores among the Indian golfers on a truncated opening day before tropical storms halted play at the SMBC Singapore Open here Thursday.

Arjun Atwal, who won in Singapore way back in 2002, was three-under through 11 holes and will be among the 78 players who will come back in the morning to complete the first round.

Rahil Gangjee, Om Prakash Chouhan and Khalin Joshi had a rough day and ended five-over 76 in the first round of the season-opening event of the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO).

Jeev Milkha Singh, a winner in the event in 2008, was five-over through 11 holes. Chikkarangappa had played six holes and was even par, while Viraj Madappa was one-over through eight.

Chinese Taipei's Hung Chien-yao carded a five-under-par 66 to snatch the first round clubhouse lead on Thursday.

Japanese pair of Yuta Ikeda and Yoshinori and Philippines' Miguel Tabuena also had a round to remember when he returned with a 67 to trial Hung by one shot at the USD 1 million event.

England's Matthew Fitzpatrick, who is making his debut at the SMBC Singapore Open, was pleased to have completed his round before tropical storms halted play at the season-opening event of the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO).

The Englishman signed for a 68 which was matched by Thailand's Jazz Janewattananond and Malaysia's Nicholas Fung.

Play was first suspended at 2.08pm (local time). It resumed at 5.30pm before being suspended again due to fading light at 7.10pm. 78 players will resume their first round at 7.30am on Friday morning with the second round scheduled to start at 9.40am.

The 2017 Masters winner Sergio Garcia of Spain together with Japan's Ryo Ishikawa returned with matching 69s to remain three shots back of Hung.

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