Delhi golfers Naman Dawar and Vinod Kumar were placed joint second with scores of five-under-67 after the opening round of the PGTI Eagleburg Open being played at Eagleton Golf Resort, here today.
Sri Lanka's Mithun Perera took the top honours, posting a seven-under-65 to establish a two-stroke lead at the top.
Perera, who won PGTI's last event at his home course in Colombo last week, continued his good form with eight birdies against a lone bogey. The four-time winner on the PGTI converted an eight-footer for his first birdie of the day on the second hole.
The 28-year-old then went on a rampage with five straight birdies from the sixth to the 10th. Perera added two more birdies after landing it within five feet of the pin on the 15th and 17th. His only bogey of the day came on the 16th.
"The win last week really lifted my spirits. I am now 29-under for the last five rounds on the PGTI. This is an ideal start to the tournament. I have generally played well at Eagleton but this round of 65 is my best score here and has put me in a great position.
"The highlight of my round was the second shot on the sixth which helped me get out of the trees and landed just four feet from the hole. I may try that shot ten times more and may not be able to get it right again. The execution for that shot was near-perfect. I was on a roll thereafter," Perera said.
Dawar's bogey-free 67 saw him knock down birdie putts from a range of 15 to 25 feet on the 10th, 16th and eighth. He also canned a 15 feet par putt on the 12th.
"This is one of my lowest scores in a long time. I was struggling with my game last year but things are looking up this year as I also had a decent outing last week. I putted really well today and made some good par-saves," he said.
Vinod made an astonishing nine birdies against two bogeys and a double-bogey in his round of 67 that placed him joint second along with Dawar.
Anirban Lahiri, the defending champion and local favourite, shared fourth place along with another Bangalore golfer R Murthy, Sri Lankans K Prabagaran and N Thangaraja and Jaipur's Vishal Singh at four-under-68.
