Vikram Rana shot a three-under 68 to emerge as the leader after the first round of the Tata Steel Western India Open golf championship at the Poona Club on Tuesday.
The experienced ONGC golfer led by a solitary stroke from Samarth Dwivedi with Amul Waghmare third, two shots off the lead.
H.S. Kang was fourth on par 71 while as many as six — Shailendra Sandhu, Trishul Chinnappa, Feroz Singh Garewal, Pranav Mardikar, Ainesh Ahluwalia and Syed Saqib Ahmed — shared fifth place on 72.
Rana was off to a perfect start with an opening birdie before a bogey and a a double thereafter set him back. But he made a strong comeback with three birdies in the next five holes to take the turn at 1-under.
Rana dropped anoter shot but that was his last mistake of the day as he resurrected his round with consecutive birdies on the fifth and sixth while adding one more on the par-4 eighth to end up on top of the leaderboard.
“I am happy to assume the leadership,” smiled Rana after the round. “I was playing really well with my irons and putter helping me a lot. It is too early to predict but I would definitely want to end up as the winner,” he added.