Greg Moss shot a remarkable 10-under-62 to take a two-stroke lead on the opening day of the Take Solutions India Masters at the Eagleton Golf Resort here.
The American finished immediately ahead of Himmat Rai, who carded a none-too-shabby 64, with a logjam of six players one stroke further behind in third.
Moss, an itinerant 29-year-old from Los Angeles playing his first full season on the Asian Development Tour, sank five straight birdies from the sixth through the tenth hole. He drained four more from the 12th through the 15th, a run that included two putts from 25 feet.
Moss topped that with a mammoth 40-foot putt on the 17th, and eventually handed in his card grinning from ear to ear. “Today, some putts that shouldn't have gone in, went in. I'm as shocked as anyone,” he said.
“I'm just back after a three-week break at home, having been on the road for seven months. I feel rejuvenated.”
Himmat was the best of the Indian players on Wednesday, making his only bogey of the round on the 18th.
Rashid Khan, Trishul Chinnappa, S. Chikkarangappa, Shubhankar Sharma, N. Thangaraja (Sri Lanka) and Masaru Takahashi (Japan) all lay tied for third with rounds of seven-under-65.
Chikkarangappa, the defending champion, endured a torrid start, making double-bogey on the third hole, before mounting a splendid recovery.
It was a round of astonishingly low scores — 79 players went under par.
THE SCORES (after 18 holes): 62: Greg Moss; 64: Himmat Rai; 65: Rashid Khan, Trishul Chinnappa, N. Thangaraja, Masaru Takahashi, S. Chikkarangappa, Shubhankar Sharma; 66: Ashok Kumar, Vikrant Chopra, Naman Dawar, Anura Rohana.
