feb8 Indian masters day 1

Jyoti Randhawa capitalized on his familiarity with the Delhi Golf Course to fire a seven-under par 65 and take the opening round lead in the Indian Masters golf tournament Thursday.

Winner of four Asian Tour events on this course, Randhawa shot an bogey-free round and carded eagles twice over the last five holes — including the 18th — to take a two-stroke lead over Richard Finch and Damien McGrane, who shared the second spot on five-under par 67.

One stroke behind them were Thomas Bjorn, Jose Manuel Lara and local star Shiv Kapur with four-under par 68.

The $2.5 million Indian Masters marked the arrival of European Tour in India.

The opening day saw world No. 4 Ernie Els struggle to a three-over par 75 that placed him in the tied 77nd spot. Experiencing a harrowing time, Els took nine shots on his par-five ninth — the course’s 18th — as he twice went into the bushes and took penalty drops on both occasions.

“Nine strokes on the 18th don’t surprise me, I’ve seen bigger numbers than that,” said Kapur, a regular on the European Tour who holds this course’s record of 10-under 62.

“If you take the bunkers out, you tempt people to go with their driver. That’s when you find the bushes and you find the trouble,” said Kapur.

Bjorn said players now rarely play courses like this.

“I think it’s just a question of playing this golf course very conservatively,” said Bjorn. “It’s very rare we see a bush like this, it certainly shows that a golf course doesn’t need to be long to be difficult.”

“I think if you try and overpower this golf course, you’re going to find yourself in huge trouble throughout the week. It takes a little bit of experience to play a golf course like this,” he said.

Randhawa said past performance helped him prepare for this course as he replayed what he did when winning the previous title.

“I just thought of what I did a few years back and a few months back … it always comes back to me,” said Randhawa, who now regularly plays on the European Tour.

“One can’t ask for a better first round, but you can’t shoot a seven-under and sit there feeling happy about it,” he said.

Despite the course’s reputation of penalizing aggressive play, Randhawa said golfers were still required to take risks.

“You have to be aggressive, risks will earn their reward,” he said.

Among the players who struggled Thursday was Darren Clarke, who had a par-72 in the first round.