Marcus Armitage gets ready for the final putt on the 18th in the Hero Indian Open golf championship in Gurugram on March 26, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
It was a bit of an anticlimax after Marcus Armitage had threatened to emerge the sole leader, as he got undone on the 18th at the fag end of the day in fading light, and the 38-year old had to be content to be a joint leader with Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and Marcus Kinhult of Sweden, with a four-under 68, in the first round of the $2.25 million Hero Indian Open at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Thursday (March 26, 2025).
After pulling off a birdie on the tricky 17th, Armitage was 5-under, going into the par-5 18th. He managed to wriggle out of a tight situation as he took a chance to salvage his position, and putted nicely.
“When life is good, you have got to enjoy,” said Armitage, quite pleased with his overall work, and patience that he had shown through the day, winding up by getting a “tricky putt” right.
“I just kept patient because this golf course can wind you up, you can get frustrated pretty quick. I just dug in and really pleased with it,” he said.
Ajeetesh in joint fourth
There was a lot of good news for the home fans, as Ajeetesh Sandhu shot a 69, with six birdies and three bogeys to be joint fourth with four others.
“Everything was above average. I hit a lot of fairways and greens, and putted well”, said Ajeetesh, not overtly pleased with his work on the opening day.
Veer Ahlawat, the runner-up in the last edition did remarkably well to shoot a 70, to be in joint 10th spot with nine others.
Two-time champion S.S.P. Chawrasia closed with a par 72, and so did Shiv Kapur, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Om Prakash Chouhan and Rayhan Thomas who were all tied on the 30th with 20 others.
Leading scores: 68: Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Marcus Kinhult (Swe), Marcus Armitage (Eng); 69: Ajeetesh Snadhu, Ugo Coussaud (Fra), Matthew Jordan (Eng), Todd Clements (Eng), Ross Fisher (Eng); 70: Ryan Van Velzen (RSA), Angel Ayora (Esp) Veer Ahlawat, Casey Javis (RSA) Eugenio Chacarra (Esp), Brandon Stone (RSA), Andreas Halvorsen (Nor), Alexander Knappe (Ger), Aaron Cockerill (Can), Troy Merritt (USA).
Published – March 28, 2025 02:40 am IST
