Abhijit sparkles but phadungsil brightest on day 1 of avantha

Abhijit Chadha shone bright for India with a flawless opening card in his debut European Tour event but it was Thai youngster Chinnarat Phadungsil who stole the thunder from several stalwarts by turning in a sensational 11-under 61 on Day one of the Avantha Masters golf tournament on Thursday. Abhijit, who ended the day on tied second, was the morning leader with his flawless performance before Phadungsil turned the spotlight on himself. Abhijit, the PGTI’s Emerging Player of the Year, revelled in home conditions and picked up birdies on the 15th, 16th, 4th, 5th, 6th and the 9th hole to return a card of 66. But it was Phadungsil who sparkled with 11 birdies, eight of which came in a stunning back-nine on a day when the euro 1.8 million tournament’s biggest draw, Ryder Cup star Colin Montgomerie, looked in danger of missing the cut with a four-over 76. Phadungsil said,’I am feeling a little bit of pressure ahead of tomorrow but I will just try to give my best. My target is my game.’ Abhijit acknowledged ‘I play here a lot. We just had a small tournament last month. I played six rounds then and that obviously helped. The putter was hot today. I holed almost everything. I made a 40-footer for birdie on the 16th.’