The Indian golfers did not have a great day in office with Rahil Gangjee (71) being the best- placed at tied-38th at the Shinhan Donghae Open, which started here today.
Gangjee (71), at even par, was way behind the two leaders -- Kyungnam Kang and Junsung Kim -- who fired matching six- under-par 65s to share the first round lead.
Defending champion Gaganjeet Bhullar had two bogeys and two birdies till he had double on the 18th for a two-over 73 and was tied 79th, the same as Jeev Milkha Singh, who won his pro title in Korea back in 1994.
Shubhankar Sharma and S Chikkarangappa carded one-over 72 each to be tied-59th. Chiragh Kumar and Sujjan Singh shot 74 each and were tied-95th.
Co-leader Kim had the honour of recording the tournament's first hole-in-one when he aced the par-three 12, while Kang fired seven birdies against a lone bogey to set the early pace at the KRW1.2 billion (approximately USD 1.06 million), co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Korean PGA.
The Korean duo hold a two-shot advantage over a quartet of players that include Korean-American Chan Kim, France's Lionel Weber as well as compatriots Younghan Song and Seungtaek Lee.
Malaysia's Gavin Green kept in touch with the leaders by returning with a 68 to take a share of seventh place.
Korea's Sangmoon Bae struggled in his first professional event since being discharged from military service when he signed for a 74 to stay well off the pace in tied-98th place.
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