Sujjan Singh and S Chikkrangappa were the pick among the Indians on the first day of the all-important Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage, which got underway here today.
Sujjan, a former winner on the Asian Development Tour, who also has a top-10 on the Asian Tour, had five birdies against one bogey in his 68 on the par-72 Imperial Lakeview Golf Club. He was third and tied fifth overall.
Chikka, a former multiple Indian Amateur champion, also carded three-under 69 at Imperial to be tied 17th.
The other Indians had mixed luck, with Kapil Kumar (69) at par-71 Springfield and Shubhankar Sharma (70) being the next best. Angad Cheema 70 (-1), Ajeetesh Sandhu 72 (par), Abhinav Lohan 72 (+1), Karan Taunk (73 (+1), Shankar Das (73 (+1), Khalin Joshi 74 (+2), Vikrant Chopra 74 (+3), Honey Baisoya (76 (+5) and Abhijit Chadha 77 (+6) are the other Indians in the field.
"It was a good round. I started really well. I was three-under after five holes. I hit some good shots at the start of the round. However, I did not play very well on the back nine and hit a couple of bad shots because the wind was really blowing," Chikka said.
"Both these golf courses suit my eye because it is similar to my home course (Eagleton Golf Resort in Bangalore). The course is kind of open and you need to place the ball at the right place. I like the layout so I'm feeling very confident," he added.
A total of 238 players teed off in the Final Stage where the top-40 and ties will earn an Asian Tour card for the 2014 season. The first two rounds of the Final Stage will be held at Imperial Lakeview and Springfield Royal. After two days, the top-80 and ties will progress to the final two rounds which will be played at Springfield Royal.
Meanwhile, Hamza Amin of Pakistan is hoping that his third attempt at the Qualifying School Final Stage will get him the coveted card. He shot three-under-par 69.
Hamza, son of the successful Pakistani amateur golfer Taimur Hassan, is playing under the Pakistani flag, even though he has grown up in Austria. Nathan Holman of Australia had the best score of eight-under 63 at par-71 Springfield, while Paul Peterson of the US carded six-under 66 at the same course.
The best score at par-71 Imperial Lakeview came from Martin Rominger of Switzerland, who shot five-under 66.
