Anirban Lahiri fired a six-under-66 to lead after the first round of the McLeod Russel Tour Championship, the PGTI’s year-ending event, at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club on Thursday.
Jyoti Randhawa, who shot five under, is close on Lahiri’s heels.
Lahiri seemed to carry the good form that he had shown in the Asian Tour earlier in the season as he sunk eight birdies to race ahead in the contest for the biggest prize purse on the Indian Tour.
However, he also dropped a shot each on two holes.
Lahiri made birdie putts ranging from 15 to 25 feet on the third, eighth and 17th holes.
The 26-year-old also hit a few good drives for birdies on the ninth, 10th and 18th.
On both the par-five holes — the fourth and 15th — he found the green in two shots and set up two-putt birdies.
Lahiri’s two bogeys came as a result of his ball being plugged in the bunker on the seventh, and his tee shot landing in the water hazard on the 16th.
“I struck it well and found most fairways, which, it seems, have been narrowed in this tournament. The conditions were tough in the morning as it was windy.
Jyoti Randhawa scored a flurry of birdies on the first-nine to enjoy a good lead in the initial half of the action.
He landed it within four feet on the first hole to pick up his first birdie and then followed it up with a chip-in on the third, and sank 10-feet birdie putts on the fifth and sixth holes.
His birdie on the back-nine was off-set by a bogey.
The scores:
66: Anirban Lahiri, 67: Jyoti Randhawa, 68: Abhinav Lohan, Sanjay Kumar, 69: Khalin H. Joshi, Angad Cheema, 70: Siddharth Semwal, Gaurav Pratap Singh, Kunal Bhasin (Aus) , Mithun Perera (Sri), Rahil Gangjee, S. Chikkarangappa.
