New Delhi: Unheralded Chiragh Kumar of India fired an eight-under-par 64 to take a surprising one-shot lead in the first round of the Hero Indian Open golf on Thursday.
Kumar upstaged the stellar Asian Tour stars gathered at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) with a flawless round highlighted by eight birdies in the USD 1.25 million event.
Veteran Zaw Moe of Myanmar was a further stroke back with Scotland's Ross Bain and Lin Wen-hong of Chinese Taipei, who is hoping to make amends from his disqualification in the final round of the Yeangder TPC last week.
Five strokes behind Chiragh were the Indian quartet of Om Prakash Chouhan, Himmat Rai, Gurki Shergill and SSP Chowrasia, who returned matching 69s to share the ninth spot with defending champion Rikard Karlberg of Swede and eight others.
World number 55 Edoardo Molinari was tied 36th after returning with a card of one-under 71.
Kumar, 27, a 2006 Asian Games team silver medalist, could have extended his lead by two but missed a 15-foot eagle putt on the last.
"I wanted to keep it simple. I didn't have a score in mind but I read my putts well. The Asian Tour has staged quite a number of events in India this year and I have definitely improved playing with Asia's best," said Kumar, a two-time winner on the local circuit.
"I don't have any expectations in this tournament but I hope I can continue my form and hopefully I will still be on top the leaderboard on Sunday," added Kumar, whose best finish was tied 10th at the 2006 Indian Open when he was still an amateur.
Moe, 44, has enjoyed two top-10 finishes since changing to a belly putter in the Macau Open in September and needed only 25 putts in a round of six birdies and one eagle on the par five 14th hole where his seven-wood approach landed six feet from the hole.
"One of the reasons to my good form is my belly putter which has helped me a lot. My putting has been very consistent since I changed it and my confidence is really high at the moment," said Moe, whose last victory on the Asian Tour was in 1997.
Lin would have finished in tied third if he did not sign for the wrong score last week but he bounced back with a flawless round highlighted by five straight birdies starting from the 13th hole.
The Dubai-based Bain, who finished second in the Indian Open in 2001, carded his best score at the DGC with birdies in his opening three holes. He added four more birdies, one eagle and two bogeys to share the first-round lead.
Among other Indians, three-time winner Jyoti Randhawa, Sujjan Singh, Shamim Khan and two others hit two-under 70 to lie tied 22nd. Two-time Asian Tour winner Gaganjeet Bhullar pulled out at the last moment on Thursday.
Shiv Kapur was tied 53rd after carding even-par 72, while Gaurav Ghei and Anirban Lahiri went one-over 73 for the day to lie tied 68th.
Scores after Round 1:
64 - Chiragh Kumar (IND).
65 - Lin Wen-hong (TPE), Ross Bain(SCO), Zaw Moe (MYN).
67 - Scott Barr(AUS).
68 - David Gleeson (AUS), Angelo Que (PHI), Adilson Da Silva (BRA).
69 - Om Prakash Chouhan (IND), Tjaart Van Der Walt(RSA), Himmat Rai (IND), Chapchai Nirat (THA), Rikard Karlberg(SWE), Gurki Shergill (IND), S.S.P. Chowrasia(IND), Atthaphon Prathumannee(THA), Young Nam (KOR), Jbe Kruger (RSA), Baek Seuk-hyun (KOR), Simon Griffiths (ENG), Namchok Tantipokhakul(THA).
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