Kolkata, Janaury 21: Saurav Jhunjhunwala and Sanjiv Nagar stole the limelight in the Vodafone Invitational Golf tournament, the opening day of the Royals Trophy that teed off at the historic Royal Calcutta Golf Club here on Thursday.
Saurav, after a three-way tie, emerged the winner in the 0-16 handicap category played in the morning session, pipping Rahul Sharma to the second spot on a count-back.
Rahul was a shade better than Dinkar Maheshwari after the trio had logged 35 stableford points apiece. Pawan Shroff topped the 17 and above category with 36 points while Naresh Keyal came second with 35 points.
With an overwhelming response to the historic event, the officials were forced to conduct the first round in two sessions. Sanjiv Nagar with a score of 40 stableford points emerged as the champion in the 0-16 handicap category played in the evening session. Govind Atwal, brother of the India’s leading professional Arjun Atwal, finished runner-up at 36 points.
Pikul Chaudhuri logged 33 stableford points to top the 17 and above handicap category with Rita Punwani emerging as the runner-up, just a solitary point separating the two.
—Agencies