Kapil and Ankur share lead

Card an identical four-under 68

On song: Ankur played a flawless first nine as he relied on his fine tee-shots and approaches to pick up birdies.

Kapil Kumar and Ankur Chadha carded an identical four-under 68 to be in joint lead after the opening round of the ICC RCGC Open here on Thursday.

A shot away, three players — Akshay Sharma, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and amateur Anil Mane — were tied for the third place. Akshay had a blemish-free performance, Yuvraj had a rollercoaster ride and Mane dropped a shot each on either half.

The tussle for the top spot was interesting, though.

Starting early from the 10th hole, Chadha played a flawless first nine as he relied on his fine tee-shots and approaches to pick up birdies on 14th, 16th and 18th holes. However, the 25-year-old Gurugram golfer bogeyed the second, due to a bunker, on his back nine before recovering to gain two strokes on fourth and seventh to set the pace. “I am happy with my solid start. It sets up the week nicely,” said Chadha.

Kapil, who also began from the 10th later in the morning, had a superb first nine as he chipped in for an eagle on the par-five 15th hole. Kapil had a dramatic start to his back nine as he got a birdie on the first and a bogey on the second before saving a shot each on third and fourth to catch up with Chadha.

“I hit my irons really well today. A good par save from the rough on the 12th gave me a lot of self-belief," said the 27-year-old Delhi pro.

Sunit Chowrasia and Mohammad Sanju performed the best among the local golfers. The duo was at tied-sixth on two-under 70.

Leading scores (first round):

68 - Kapil Kumar, Ankur Chadha; 69 - Akshay Sharma, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Anil Mane; 70 - Sagar Raghuvanshi, R. Mari Muthu, Ranjit Singh, Sunit Chowrasia, Tapy Ghai, Mohammad Sanju .