Dinesh Raghuvanshi of Pune, Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh and Gurgaon-based Arshdeep Tiwana shot an identical score of five-under 63 to emerge as joint leaders after the opening round at the PGTI Feeder Tour event at the par-68 Madhuban Meadows Golf Course here today.
Samaresh Sardar of Kolkata, Patna's Md Nawab and Ravi from Chandimandir, Haryana, are all in tied fourth place at four-under 64.
Dinesh had an astounding nine birdies against four bogeys in his opening round. His round included a magical run of four consecutive birdies from the 10th to the 13th.
Dinesh, the elder brother of the seasoned Mukesh Kumar, landed it within two feet of the pin on the fourth, seventh, 10th, 12th and 17th on Tuesday.
Akshay, who won the Feeder Tour season opener in Jaipur last week, continued his rich vein of form with six birdies and a bogey in round one. He missed an eagle from 12 feet on the 11th after his putt lipped out. Akshay drove the green on the par-4 15th hole to set up a birdie opportunity.
Arshdeep, a 10th tee starter, was off to a flying start with a chip-in for eagle on the 11th. He was then struck on the head by his playing partner Balprrit Guman's ball on the 12th. Guman was hitting it out of the rough on the 12th when his ball struck Tiwana and resulted in a cut on his head.
Arshdeep, nonetheless, soldiered on with chip-putt birdies on the 15th, 16th and sixth and another one on the seventh. A bogey on the 17th was the only blemish on his card.
Samaresh Sardar of Kolkata, Patna's Md Nawab and Ravi from Chandimandir, Haryana, are one stroke off the lead in tied fourth.
Local lad Maniram Sharma is in tied 12th place after a round of one-under-67.
Aditya Singh Chauhan of Indore had two eagles in his round of 67 that placed him in joint 12th along with Maniram. Chauhan also made three bogeys during his opening round.
The top 36 players and ties will make the cut at the end of round two tomorrow.
