Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma emerged as the best Indian at tied 7th, lying two shots off the lead at the end of the first round of the Hero Indian Open on Thursday.
Sharma was five-under through 14 holes and looked set for a share of the lead with Stephen Gallacher, who finished half an hour earlier.
But, Sharma ran into back-to-back bogeys and finished with 69, which he said was "still a decent start" on this course.
Gallacher, who had missed the cut in his last four starts, and Julian Suri shared the first round lead with rounds of 67 each.
Gallacher, a two-time Dubai Desert Classic winner, shot five-under 67 in the morning wave and that effort was equaled by Suri, who has Indian origins, with the same number in the afternoon.
"I think I played very well today did not make too many mistakes. I missed a couple of key putts on my front nine. Made a silly mistake on six and seven but apart from those holes I am pretty happy with how I finished," Sharma said.
Speaking about his eagle on the fourth, which was his 13th holes, he said, "I hit it decent but not quite how I wanted to execute it. I ended up with a decent lie so fortunately I was lucky with where it ended up and hit it close enough (six feet) to make an eagle."
"I got the all clear about four or fives weeks ago from the doc and last week in Malaysia was my first event. With the heat there and all the conditions, the body felt great and the swing felt good too. It's obviously still a work in progress but to shoot a score like this, on a course like this, is a good sign going forward. (The course) is a great test."