Sweden’s Haeggman Takes Two-Shot Lead with 65 at HSBC India Legends
Image Source: Khel Now
Sweden’s Joakim Haeggman may hail from a cold country, but he also knows what it is like to play in humid Asian conditions and elsewhere. He put that experience to good use on Friday, shooting a 7-under 65 on the opening day of the inaugural USD 500,000 HSBC Legends India Championship, securing a two-shot lead over the field. Haeggman, who turned 55 two days ago, had nine birdies against a lone bogey on the Greg Norman-designed Jaypee Greens Golf Course.
Haeggman led American Dennis Clark (67) and was three shots ahead of Indians Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa, as well as six-time Legends Tour winner Brazilian Adilson Da Silva, who all shot 68 each. With temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius and high humidity, Haeggman called upon all his experience to make a great start. Opening with birdies on the second and fourth holes, he dropped his only shot of the day on the seventh.
Haeggman was perfect on the Par-5s (2nd, 4th, 12th, and 15th holes) and birdied all four. He started his back nine in stunning fashion, picking up 5 shots over 6 holes between the 10th and 15th holes. After reaching 7-under at that point, he closed with pars on the last three holes.
Haeggman remarked after his round, “Obviously, for me being Swedish, this is really, really hot and difficult for all sorts of reasons. I would say the key was driving the ball pretty straight into the fairways and hitting a lot of good shots onto the greens and staying out of trouble. There is a lot of trouble on this golf course, so you need to hit the fairways, hit the greens, and try to stay patient.”
“I played really well. I had a really good spell of birdies here in the middle of the day. I mean, I obviously putted well. I was more or less in no trouble all day.”
He added, “I’ve been in India with the regular tour earlier with Jeev and the other guys playing here in India. I think it’s my third visit to India. But this is by far the hottest.”
Amongst Haeggman’s many wins on various tours, one came in humid Kuala Lumpur when he won the 1994 Malaysian Open in a three-way play-off, and another one came on the Legends Tour in Seychelles, also a humid place, where he won the 2022 MCB Tour Championship.
The three-time winner on the DP World Tour (then the European Tour) between 1993 and 2004 was also the first Swede to play in a Ryder Cup in 1993 at The Belfry, despite two career interruptions (in 1994 and 2002) due to accidents while playing ice hockey.
Clark, who played with Randhawa in the same group from the tenth, birdied five times between the 12th and the 18th holes and turned in at 5-under. Two birdies against two bogeys on the second nine, the front side of Jaypee Greens, saw him finish at 5-under and in sole second place.
Clark played on the PGA Tour between 1990 and 2000 but was winless. He ultimately found a lot of success on the Legends Tour with six wins, the last of which came around 12 weeks ago at the Costa Navarino Legends Trophy in Greece.
When Clark cooled off on the second nine, Randhawa took over with a 6-under stretch in five holes from the first to the fifth, including an eagle on the Par-5 second hole.
Tournament host Jeev, who was 4-under through 12 holes, birdied the 2nd, 6th, 10th, and 12th holes before dropping a shot on the 13th, and he picked up one final birdie on the 15th. He birdied three of the four Par-5s.
Jeev said, “I’ve been playing very good golf, to be honest, in the last few weeks. I’ve struggled with my short game, but it was a little better today. I’ve been working quite hard. I made five birdies, one bogey.”
“That bogey shouldn’t have happened because I was on the edge of the green. I was only 10 feet from the hole. But that’s okay. I had a lot of birdie opportunities on the golf course, which I didn’t convert. I’ll take today, tomorrow’s another day, and I look forward to having a good week.”
Randhawa said, “I did not start too well, really. I was two over (after five), then made one birdie, then made another bogey. So, it was not a good putting experience in the first nine, but then I probably got hot in the back nine and made some putts. That eagle on the second was great, I had also birdied the first. So that really kept me going.”
Five players, including Spaniard Carl Suneson, Italian Emanuele Canonica, Scotsman Greig Hutcheon, Frenchman Lionel Alexandre, and Englishman Gary Marks, were tied at sixth with 2-under 70 each.
Team Profile
- Namrata Boruah, currently based in New Delhi, is an aspiring journalist with a keen interest in uncovering inside news and presenting the facts to the public. She is determined to build a career in journalism, driven by a passion for truth and transparency.
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