Local lad Rajiv Datar off to a flying start

Mithun Perera and Shankar Das join Datar as joint leaders

Pune, November 7, 2012: PuneⳠRajiv Datar was off to a flying start
at the PGTI Players Championship presented by Poona Club Ltd. Datar
fired a bogey-free five-under-66 in round one to share the lead with
Sri Lankan Mithun Perera and KolkataⳠShankar Das. Rahul Bajaj of
Noida, Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow and ChandigarhⳠGurbaaz Mann are one
shot behind the joint leaders in tied fourth place.

Rajiv Datar began well at his home course as he sank a 20-feet birdie
putt on the third. He then landed his chip within a couple of feet of
the pin on the sixth for his second birdie of the day. The 34-year-old
Datar found the green in two shots to set up a birdie on the par-5
seventh hole before driving the green on the par-4 14th hole to pick
up another stroke. RajivⳠfifth and final birdie of the day came on
the 17th where he converted a 15-feet putt.

Datar said, ㍹ hitting was good. I made 15 greens in regulation
today. The putts also rolled in for me. I suffered a knee injury last
year so could not play too many events in the first half of this
season. Thus it was very important for me to post a good score in
order to get my confidence going. The injury is much better now and I
hope to capitalize on this great start at my home course.伢r>
Mithun Perera missed a couple of chip-putts on the second and fourth
that resulted in bogeys. He more than made up for that with a 15-feet
eagle putt on the seventh and birdies on the sixth, eighth, 11th and
13th. He landed it extremely close on the sixth and 11th and holed a
20-footer on the 13th. The Colombo-based professionalⳠbogey on the
14th was negated by birdies on the 17th and 18th.

㉠like the conditions here as this course is a lot like my home
course in Colombo. I hit it well and found the centre of the fairway
on many occasions. However, my short game left a lot to be desired as
my chipping was poor and I also missed some short birdie putts.
Nonetheless, I⭠quite happy to have shot a really low first round
score in a long time,䠳aid Perera.

Shankar Das, a winner at the Poona Club Golf Course last year, also
shot a bogey-free 66 in round one to be the joint leader along with
Rajiv Datar and Mithun Perera.

Rahul Bajaj of Noida, Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow and ChandigarhⳠGurbaaz
Mann are one stroke adrift of the lead in tied fourth place.