Hie shot eight-under 64, including a five-under 31, on the back nine of the course, while three Thais, Sattaya Supupramai, who has been coming to India each year since 2008, Suradit Yongcharoenchai and Kwanchai Tannin were on six-under 66s at Tied-second place.
The two Indians, Aadil Bedi and Aman Raj, along with Swede Andras Gronkvist were lying Tied-fifth with scores of 67 each.
The man to catch after round 1 of #ClassicGolf2019 #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/o5xJYkks3z
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) September 12, 2019
None of the top seven players have won on the Asian Tour. Tannin's two professional wins have both come this year on the All Thailand Golf Tour, while Suradit has not won a pro event on a recognized Tour. Supupramai, whose younger brother is also in the field, has won three times, all of them on the Asian Development Tour. The last of those successes was in 2014.
Aman Raj, 24, who topped the Indian PGTI Q-School in 2016, won his maiden pro event on the Indian Tour in Jaipur last year. Gronkvist's lone pro win came on China Tour last year, while Bedi is looking for his first pro win.
After Aman Raj and Bedi, the next highest placed Indian players were Rashid Khan, 44-year-old veteran Ranjit Singh, Abhijit Chandha and Himmat Rai. They all shot four-under 68s and were part of a 10-strong group in Tied eighth. Rashid and Himmat were the highest placed players with an Asian Tour win. Himmat won the Singapore Classic in 2011, while Rashid won the SAIL Open and the Chiangmai Classic in 2014.
A year after turning pro, Hie came to India for the 2009 SAIL Open at this very course. Hie, who is yet to win on Asian Tour, recalled that saying, "That was the year when Chapchai (Nirat) won and set the world record (of 32-under). The rough now makes it so much more difficult. If you don't hit it on the fairway, you got to scramble and make par."
#PlayerSpeak Here's what the highest-placed Indian on the board @Aadilbedigolf had to say about his round today@asiantourgolf @ITCHotels @PGTITOUR pic.twitter.com/E6YfW1U7u2
— Classic Golf & CC International Championship (@ClassicGolfIntl) September 12, 2019
Even more interesting was that he is with the same caddie. He added, "The funny thing was the caddie I worked with back then still recognized me and we are reuniting again this week." That year in 2009 Hie was Tied-ninth, his only Top-10 on the Asian Tour in his first three years. He has come to India since then for other events without much success.
Hie turned pro in 2008 and went to the US to play golf at the University of South California. On Thursday, he started with a series of five pars before finding his first birdie on the sixth hole. But after that there was no stopping him. He birdied eight of the remaining 13 holes and had no bogeys. At one stage he had birdied five in a row from the eighth to the 12th holes and picked a shot on three of the four Par-5s.
Among other prominent players were Indonesia Open winner Miguel Carballo of Argentina, Indians Viraj Madappa, Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Priyanshu Singh and C Muniyappa, all on three-under 69s. Gaurav Ghei was even par, Khalin Joshi was one-over and Jyoti Randhawa was three-over.
The top 65 and ties will make the cut.
Source: Press Release