Jyoti Randhawa turned the clock back as he holed 23 putts en-route to a six-under-par 64 to grab the first round lead at the US 1.3 million Dollars Hong Kong Open, here today.
The 2002 Asian Tour number one said he 'putted his heart out' in a round of seven birdies and one bogey to take a one-shot lead over Angelo Que of the Philippines at the Hong Kong Golf Club.
Anirban Lahiri, second on the Order of Merit had a tough day with a round of 75 and needs to come back with a good second round to make the cut as he was 139th.
Among the other Indians Rahil Gangjee and Shiv Kapur shot two-under 68 each to be tied 27th, while SSP Chowrasia (69) was lying tied 44th. Things were not too good for other Indians as Chiragh Kumar (71) was 83rd, Jeev Milkha Singh and Rashid Khan carded 73 each to be 115th, Himmat Rai (74) was 130th and Sujjan Singh (75) was 130th.
Jyoti, 42, rediscovered some of his best form courtesy of a hot putter which resulted in two closing birdies at the Fanling course.
"I've been playing decent in the last few weeks but haven't been able to put up a good number. Today I really putted my heart out, so I'm really happy with the way it went, and I'm glad I got the pace on the greens right," he said.
The popular Indian, who has eight Asian Tour victories but not since 2009, says that regular exercise, has helped improve his golf game.
"I've been working on my physical fitness with my coach. We've been doing a lot of cardio and building my lower body. I changed my swing last year and I'm swinging better because of a more stable lower body. It is still not that strong but I'm working on it," said Jyoti.
Ernie Els of South Africa, who is an Honorary Member and International Ambassador of the Asian Tour, produced a 66 in his return to Hong Kong after 18 years to share fourth place alongside eight other players including Lu Wei-chih of Chinese Taipei, Baek Seuk-hyun of Korea and Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium.
