Aryan Roopa Anand, Jeev Milkha Singh impress on first day of IGPL Invitational Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: Aryan Roopa Anand, playing the historic Royal Colombo Golf, for the first time, produced one of his best rounds as a professional with a 9-under 62 on the opening day of the IGPL Invitational Sri Lanka, the final event of 2025 IGPL Tour, according to a release.

The two-time all-India amateur champion, Aryan opened birdie-birdie and closed in a similar fashion and had a total of nine birdies and an eagle against one bogey on each side of the Royal Colombo. But the man having most fun seemed to be India’s best known professional golfer ever, Jeev Milkha Singh, who was playing his first IGPL event. Jeev, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour and four times in Japan, Jeev shot 7-under, which included a run of five birdies in last six holes to lie second.

Lying third was local youngster, Kaya Daluwatte, who shot 6-under 65. She was also the top woman in the field after the first day. The next best woman was IGPL Mumbai winner, Pranavi Urs, who tumbled from 5-under through 15 holes to 2-under with a bogey-double bogey-par finish over the last three holes, the release said.

The 54-year-old Jeev was pleased not only with his score, but also the presence of so many young stars in the IGPL field, as several legends shared the stage with Gen Next of Indian golf.

The current IGPL Order of Merit leader, Aman Raj and six-time Asian Tour winner SSP Chawrasia were tied fourth at 4-under, while the 11-time Asian Tour winner, also a double winner at IGPL, Gaganjeet Bhullar, the highly consistent Sachin Baisoya, promising Veer Ganapathy, IGPL UAE winner, Karandeep Kochhar, and Harendra Gupta were in a five-way tie for the sixth place.

It was a very strong leaderboard on a low-scoring day when 10 players went four-under or better.

Jeev remarked, “I don’t think is a pro Tour like this anywhere. The IGPL is getting the legends of Indian golf to play in same field as promising young stars, many of whom are still amateurs. This will help the young stars learn by just watching the seniors. Plus, we had some very good women players,” said Jeev, who now divides his time between the senior Tours in Europe and Japan and some events on the Asian Tour.

Jeev’s group included Veer Ganapathy, son of former touring pro, Rahul Ganapathy, while Jyoti’s son Zorarvar was in the group with Gaganjeet Bhullar and Harjai played in the group which had Jyoti Randhawa.

Among the legends, Jeev had the best score at 7-under, SSP Chawrasia shot 5-under, Gaganjeet Bhullar shot 4-under, and Jyoti Randhawa went 1-over 72. Among the young stars Veer carded 4-under 67, Zoravar shot even par 71 and Harjai carded 3-over 74.

Leader Aryan, who is still searching for his first pro win, said, “I was quite relaxed today and, the putter was rolling well, so it turned out to be a pretty good score. I did shoot something like 6-under at Ahmedabad and I wanted to go past it. When I was 7-under with two holes one of the guys said, it will be great to finish birdie-birdie. And it happened.”

Jeev, making his debut on the IGPL, was thrilled to play with a bunch of young stars in the same field. “I have always wanted to play this historic course, but it never happened. It finally did as I played the Pro-Am with the legendary cricketer, Mahela Jayawardene and it was great fun, and he plays very well.”

“As for today, it was my first competitive round in Colombo. It was very hot but I got used to it as I went along. After being two-under for the first 12 holes, it was great to finish with five birdies in the last six holes,” said Jeev, who also caught up with old buddies.

“I have played so much golf with Jyoti Randhawa and SSP Chawrasia. It was fun to be in the field with them again today. But the added joy was to play in a field which also included Jyoti’s son, Zoravar; my son, Harjai and Veer Ganapathy, son of Rahul Ganapathy.”

Jeev after being just 2-under for the first 12 holes. He was trying to get used to the heat in what is his first appearance in Colombo. Then Jeev found a different gear and birdied four in a row from the 13th to the 16th, missed a birdie on the 17tth and closed again with a birdie to make it five birdies in last six holes.

Fulfilling local aspirations was Kaya Daluwatte, a Sri Lankan amateur with great potential, who earlier this year was picked as one of the promising stars for R&A’s Academy in New Zealand.

Kaya, who has represented Sri Lanka at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP), shot 6-under 65, that included a stunning run of six birdies in last seven holes. She was also the top woman player in the field, “It was a great to play alongside two Olympians Udayan Mane and SSP Chawrasia, who are both great players and I learnt so much, just watching them,” said the 16-year-old Kaya, who will be joining college golf in the US when she joins Pepperdine next year. (ANI)