Chowrasia leads round one of Solaris Chemtech Open Golf Championship

Gurgaon, Jan 30 (UNI) Shiv Shankar Chowrasia raced into the lead with a magnificent five-under-par 67 on the opening day of the Solaris Chemtech Open Golf Championship here today.

Gaganjeet Bhullar's round of 68 ensured he ended the day in second place. Sri Lanka's Anura Rohana was placed third as he trailed Bhullar by one stroke.

Chowrasia, climbed to the top of the leaderboard after shooting 67. The Kolkata-based pro was one under at the turn as he sank birdies on the second and seventh and dropped a bogey on the fifth.

Thereafter, Chowrasia had a flurry of birdies on the back nine to go five under. He birdied the 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th. The round one leader had an opportunity to finish at six under but he missed a 12 foot putt for an eagle on the 18th.

Bhullar is likely to give Chowrasia a run for his money in round two as he currently trails the leader by a solitary stroke. After teeing-off from the 10th, Bhullar had a fabulous back nine. He sank an eagle on the par five 14th and a birdie on the 17th to be three under at the turn. The Kapurthala lad seemed to be in top form when he picked up three more birdies on the first, second and fourth holes. However, Bhullar stumbled on the eighth and ninth holes where he made consecutive bogeys.

Naman Dawar, Shamim Khan, Digvijay Singh, Himmat Singh Rai and Sri Lanka's Anura Rohana shot identical scores of three-under 69 to secure tied third position after round one. Mukesh Kumar, returned a level par 72 to end the day in tied 18th.

Ashok Kumar carded one-over 73 to be placed tied 29th. Lam Chih Bing and Rahul Ganapathy also shot 73 to be placed tied 29th.

Rahil Gangjee and Gaurav Ghei did not have a great start to the tournament. While Gangjee fired 74 on Wednesday, Ghei was three strokes behind him at 77. The two ended round one in tied 38th and tied 76th place respectively.

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