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Bangalore, Sep 30 (IANS) Indian golfers Abhinav Lohan, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja and Bangladeshi Mohammed Zamal Hossain Mollah ended day one of the PGTI Eagleburg Masters, the fourth Super Series event of the season, as the joint leaders at six-under-66, at the Eagleton course here Tuesday.
The leading quartet were two shots ahead of a chasing pack of seven golfers including local favourites Chikkarangappa and Khalin Joshi as well as reigning Rolex Rankings champion Rashid Khan.
Lohan, who is recovering from an injury in his right elbow, stitched together three successive birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth to get off to a solid start. He drained a 25-footer on the sixth. The 24-year-old from Faridabad with five top-10s to his credit on the PGTI this year, then capitalized on the par-5s, the 10th and 15th and landed a good tee shot on the 12th to pick up three more strokes on the back-nine and end up with a bogey-free round.
Lohan said: "I'm delighted with the round as I could hardly get in any practice at Eagleton despite arriving here last week. I played one round last Friday during which I aggravated my elbow injury and thus took a break on the weekend.
"I also did not play the full practice round on Monday. I played percentage golf and set up some crucial birdie putts early on thanks to my hitting. The consecutive birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth gave me the momentum."
Chandigarh-based Sandhu, who incidentally also recently recovered from a hip injury, was joint first after a round that featured seven birdies and a bogey.
His three conversions from 10 to 15 feet and a chip that landed within a foot gave him his four birdies on the back-nine. The bogey on the second was a minor blip as the 25-year-old, a winner on the PGTI, collected three more birdies on the front-nine courtesy some accurate hitting.
Sandhu said: "It's a great start to the tournament considering I'm playing at Eagleton after five years and have never really played well at this venue even in my junior and amateur days. "Reading the lines on the greens was a little tricky and I adjusted well. I recently recovered from a hip injury that kept me away from the game from March to June this year. I now feel that my game is back on track."
Thangaraja and Mollah too came up with scores of 66 to join leaders. While Thangaraja had an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys, Mollah posted an eagle, five birdies and a bogey. Thangaraja chipped-in on the 18th and holed a putt from 20 yards on the fifth.
Rolex Rankings leader Chikkarangappa of Bangalore and PGTI Super Series Points leader Rashid Khan of Delhi were among those in tied fifth.
Chikkarangappa, playing at his home course, celebrated his 21st birthday in style with an eagle and two birdies. He started the tournament with an eagle putt from 25 feet on the opening 10th hole.
Bangalore's Khalin Joshi, Sandeep Syal of Chennai, Delhi duo of Siddharth Semwal and Pawan Kumar and Sri Lankan K Prabagaran were the others in tied fifth place at four-under-68. Sandeep Syal, who has been residing in Bangalore for the past year and a half, came agonizingly close to a hole-in-one on the eighth as his tee shot stopped two inches from the cup.
Bangalore golfers C. Muniyappa and R. Murthy closed the day in tied 12th at three-under-69.
