Jeev shoots par round

Jeev Milkha Singh brought in a par round of 71, which included a double bogey on the ninth, his final hole of the day, and stayed at one-under midway through Dunlop Phoenix tournament on the Japanese PGA Tour.

The Indian ace, who is sponsored by Hero Honda Motors and is trying to ensure his card for the next year, is now lying tied for 28th place. He was moving along fine at two-under for the day and three-under for the event, till he hit the double double bogey on the par four ninth hole. He had four birdies, two each on the front and back nines, besides two other bogeys on the back nine, which was his first nine.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods played a no-frills and bogey-free round but still came in with a card of three-under that saw him jump to tied 19th place. He eagled the par five fourth hole and then added a birdie on the par four 16th to come three-under.

The tournament got a new leader as local player, Kaname Yokoo shot a six-under 65 and moved to 11-under 131. He had a round of five-under 66 on the first day. On day 2, Kaname shot a bogey-free round with six birdies, three of them coming in a row from 11th to 13th holes.

The leader was chased by a three-man pack led by Sergio Garcia, who followed his first day’s four-under with a three-under on second day to go seven-under. Garcia had six birdies and three bogeys. Zaw Moe of Myanmar Justin Rose also had totals of seven-under 135. Moe had five birdies and one bogey in second round of 67 and Rose had a bogey-free 69.

First round leader Darren Clarke slipped to tied fifth with a round of one-over 72, which included three bogeys on the trot from 16th to 18th holes.

Day 1 report
Jeev one stroke ahead of Tiger Woods