Indian Open: Freddy Schott leads at 6-under, Eugenio Chacarra close behind

GURUGRAM: With curly locks flowing out of their golf caps, Freddy Schott and Eugenio Chacarra were the main men to watch on the opening day of the $2.55 million Hero Indian Open.

Schott made a flying start with six birdies in the first 12 holes at the intimidating DLF G&CC’s Gary Player-designed course. "Pretty much flawless," he noted.

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Chacarra, a group ahead of him, made six in the final 12. "It’s just the good vibes I feel on this course," said the defending champion.

Schott absorbed bogeys on the 14th and 17th. "At least those were the most difficult holes, so that's alright."

Chacarra dropped two on the 2nd and 15th. He took the medicine and moved on. "It’s a course that obviously can go both ways so I’m just happy that I fought until the end."

When the Spaniard's second shot on the 18th hit a cameraman's tripod to roll back to the fringe of the greens, he pitched it to two feet for a birdie to walk off as the joint leader at 5-under 67.

It felt like two narratives were merging into one. But the German changed the headline with one last push. A closing birdie, fashioned after an errant drive, sent the Bahrain Championship winner into the sole lead at 6-under.

"My caddy and I were planning to be pretty much conservative off the tee and then be aggressive on the greens. Wedging, putting was good, so that led me to that score," was the 25-year-old's analysis.

"It’s a real golf course. You hit every club in the bag, you can’t really have a weakness," Chacarra, who turned 26 last Sunday, pointed out the degree of difficulty that had scarred many golfers here.

His playing partners in the marquee group, South African Casey Jarvis, who is already a two-time winner on the Tour this year, and 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari had their share of troubles.

On the 9th before the turn, Jarvis was visibly unhappy with his third bogey. His arms gesturing to the caddy, Europe's No. 3 released his frustration by tossing the ball into the lake. Francesco was less animated with his double bogey, with just a gentle shake of the head while Chacarra himself was miffed at a birdie miss.

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The tournament's top draw, World No. 22 Akshay endured a difficult introduction to the course. He was 8-over on the infamous quarry-nine, even playing the wrong ball on the 15th for a two-shot penalty. But the Arnold Palmer Invitational champion restored some sanity with a 3-under recovery after the turn. At 5-over 77, he was well off the pace on T-98th but still managed a smile afterwards. "Glad I didn't shoot 80!" he laughed. "This golf course is hard so if I can just try and get it back to even par, I think it'll be a nice comeback for me."

In the same group with Schott, Shubhankar Sharma was hoping for a happy homecoming but he was also one among the 15 at 5-over. Veer Ahlawat was the best-placed Indian at evenpar.

As for the leader from Dusseldorf, he will probably be calling up his mentor and close friend, Marcel Siem, the winner here in 2023. Living in the same house in South Africa with the 45-year-old during Covid, Freddy now has a shot at the same title.

Round 1 leaderboard: 66-Freddy Schott (Ger), 67-Eugenio Chacarra, 68-Dan Bradbury (Eng); Top Indians: 72-Veer Ahlawat (T32), 73-Om Prakash Chouhan, Kartik Singh, Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Mohd Azhar (after 17 holes) (T41)