Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], October 23 (ANI): Aman Raj continued his love affair with the Ram Bagh Golf Club with a stunning 9-under 61 in the IGPL Invitational Jaipur at the Par 70 golf course. Aman Raj finished Tied-sixth at both Chandigarh and Jaypee Greens and was then Tied-eighth in Pune. Now he is in pole position in Jaipur, which has been a happy hunting ground for him, according to a release from IGPL.

Despite his stunning start, Aman Raj, who has twice before won in Jaipur, led by one over Shat Mishra (62) and two ahead of young Kartik Singh (63), who maintained his fantastic run on the IGPL Tour. On a day of low scores, 29 players shot under par, and another eight came with even par cards. Harendra Gupta was another shot adrift at 6-under. At the same time, Udayan Mane, making his debut on the IGPL Tour, opened with a 5-under and was tied-fifth with his close friend, Samarth Dwivedi, Trishul Chinnappa and the experienced Sachin Baisoya.

Lavanya Jadon at 2-under 68 was the leading woman pro in Tied-16th place, while the next best woman pro was Ananya Garg (69) at ied-23rd spot.

Lavanya had four birdies against two bogeys, while Ananya had three birdies against two bogeys.

Three amateurs, Rahul Ravi, Sukhman Singh and Manoviraj Singh Shekhawat, shot 69 each and were tied 23rd. The 30-year-old Aman Raj, a regular on the Asian Tour and a multiple winner on the Indian Tour, has twice won in Jaipur - in 2018 and 2023. He showed his love for the course once again. Teeing off from the third hole in the shotgun start being used on the IGPL Tour, Aman had a none-too-happy beginning with a bogey. He quickly repaired the damage with birdies on the fourth and the fifth. After a breather with a par on the sixth, he continued his birdie run.

Birdies on the seventh and the eighth saw him get to 3-under for the round. He picked up the pace again from the 12th with a birdie. He then produced a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th to the 16th and added one more on the 18th, and followed that up with a final birdie on the first, which was his 17th hole of the day and closed with a par.

In terms of the front and back nines of the course, Aman Raj had five birdies and one bogey on the front nine, while he had five birdies on the back nine. Having started on the third with a bogey, he made up with 10 birdies over the next 17 holes for a brilliant start to the week.

An ecstatic Aman said, 'Jaipur has always been a special one for me as I won my first Professional tournament here and then one more after five years. I was in contention for the Order of Merit, so the second win was also quite special since it helped get closer to the No. 1-ranked player,' as quoted from a release by IGPL.

He went on, 'My course planning and the feel on the greens are quite similar to those years and even though I started with a bogey, I then made a birdie on the next one and then nine more on the remainder of the course.'

On his recovery and return to form, he added, 'The first four months in the initial part of the year were hard, and finally, after a lot of physiotherapy and rehab, it is slowly coming back on track.'

'The best feeling is to have the confidence back and play with the same energy on the course. There still are some days when the shoulder doesn't really work well, but I've become better at understanding how to go through those rounds in the game,' he added.

He concluded by saying, 'All in all, it's a good start to the event after a long time, and I am looking forward to keeping the momentum going!'

Shat Mishra, 20, is in his first year as a pro. He shot a bogey-free 8-under 62 as he searched for his maiden pro win.

Starting from the 13th Mishra, who had a stellar amateur career before turning pro, picked three early birdies on the 14th, 15th and the 17th. He never let go of that momentum and added more gains on the third, sixth, seventh and the ninth and picked his final birdie on the 11th for an 8-under card.

Young Kartik Singh, who has been the biggest find of the fledgling IGPL Tour, has had three Top-10 finishes in three starts. He showed he will continue to make a bid for his first title, shooting 7-under 63.

Starting alongside Aman Raj from the third, Kartik also bogeyed the third like his senior playing partner. And quite like him, Kartik then found the birdie trail. He birdied the fourth, fifth and then the eighth and the ninth. After four pars from the 10th to the 13th, he again found good gains as he birdied the 14th and the 16th and then landed an eagle on the Par-5 17th.

On a low-scoring day, Harendra Gupta, who revealed that the IGPL has helped him reach a lot of personal goals, had seven birdies against one bogey in a round of 6-under 64.

Olympian Mane started on the 12th and ran into bogeys on the 13th and the 14th. He recovered quickly with a birdie on the 17th and an eagle on the 18th.

He added four more birdies to ensure a good start at 5-under.

Samarth Dwivedi also had seven birdies and two bogeys in his 65, as did Trishul Chinnappa, while Sachin Baisoya had a bogey-free 65

Among other prominent names, young Veer Ganapathy found five birdies against one bogey for a round of 4-under 66. (ANI)