February 08, 2008	Friday	Muharram 29, 1429

NEW DELHI, Feb 7: Ernie Els shot a horror quadruple bogey to lag 10 behind leader Jyoti Randhawa at the inaugural Indian Masters on Thursday, with the local star eagling the last for a two shot lead.

Irishman Damien McGrane played two rounds with Tiger Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic last week and the world number one’s magic clearly rubbed off as he fired a 67 to lie second, alongside Englishman Richard Finch.

Rejuvenated Dane Thomas Bjorn, Delhi resident Shiv Kapur, and Spain’s Jose Mauel Lara lurk one further back at the 2.5 million dollars event, while US veteran Mark O’Meara rolled back the years with a 69.

Randhawa, who posted four top-10 finishes on the European Tour last year, used his local knowledge to good effect, putting together three birdies and two eagles.

But fellow Indian Jeev Milkha Singh, seen as a favourite to win, succumbed to the pressure with a poor 77.

Randhawa has won on the Lodhi course five times before and he thought back to those victories to tailor his game.

McGrane has never won a European Tour event but was boosted by playing with Woods, although he was reluctant to give credit to the world’s best.

Bjorn, a nine-time winner on the European Tour, looks to have rediscovered his touch after a wretched season last year.

That’s exactly what happened to Els. The course here is littered with dense bushes and a wayward drive can cause all sorts of trouble.

Playing the back nine first, Els started with two bogeys in the opening three holes before three birdies in a row put him back on track. But the par-5 18th hole (his ninth) proved too challenging, even for a world number four.

His second shot went into the bushes and was unplayable for a penalty drop.

He pitched straight back into the undergrowth on his fourth for another dropped shot, before finally hitting the green and two putting for a nine.

Els bounced back with two consecutive birdies but the damage had been done and a bogey on his final hole rubbed salt into the wounds.

Leading first round scores:

65 – Jyoti Randhawa (IND).

67 – Damien McGrane (NIR), Richard Finch (ENG).

68 – Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Shiv Kapur (IND), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP).

69 – Chinnart Phadungsil (THA), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Alvaro Quiros Garcia (ESP), Benn Barham (ENG), Maarten Lafeber (NED), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Mark O’Meara (USA), C.Muniyappa (IND), Hendrik Buhrmann (SWE), David Lynn (ENG).

70 – Simon Khan (ENG), Digvijay Singh (IND), Suk Jung-Yul (KOR), Arjun Atwal (IND), Henrik Nystrom (SWE), Magnus Carlsson (SWE), Harmeet Kahlon (IND), SSP Chowrasia (IND), Keith Horne (RSA), Simon Yates (SCO), Sam Little (ENG).

71 – Scott Hend (AUS), Christian Cevaer (FRA), Oliver Wilson (ENG), Unho Park (AUS), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR), Mark Brown (NZL), Ross Bain (SCO), Mikael Lundberg (SWE), Prom Meesawat (THA), Stephen Gallacher (SCO)

72 – Scott Strange (AUS), Ross McGowan (ENG), Rahil Gangee (IND), Darren Clarke (NIR), Chapchai Nirat (THA), Alexander Noren (SWE), Anthony Kang (USA), Adam Groom (AUS), Ashok Kumar (IND), Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), Emanuele Canonica (ITA).

Selected

74 – David Howell (ENG)

75 – Ernie Els (RSA)

76 – Andrew Coltart (SCO)

77 – Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) —AFP