Indian golfers had a rough start to their campaign at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open in Osaka on Thursday as none of the six, who teed up in the first round, were able to come under par.
Shiv Kapur (76) was the best in tied 73rd place on the challenging par-72 Ibaraki Country Club.
Himmat Rai, Digvijay Singh and Jyoti Randhawa carded five-over 77 each to be tied 85th, while Bangalore duo Anirban Lahiri and C. Muniyapa were even further down with cards of seven-over 79 each in 111th place.
As of now the cut looks likely at four or five-over.
Japanese star Shingo Katayama fired a flawless eight-under-par 63 to take a two-shot lead over Thailand’s Pariya Junhasavasdikul in the opening round.
The flamboyant Japanese got off to a flying start when he birdied the opening three holes before adding five other birdies.
Pariya, who won his second Asian Tour title in Malaysia in June, was equally impressive as he carded three birdies and one eagle in his first six holes before adding two more birdies against one bogey for a 65.
Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura, Song Young-han of Korea and Rory Hie of Indonesia, who missed out on an Asian Tour card at Qualifying School earlier this year, was a further six shots back from Katayama at the Y150 million (approximately $1.48 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.
