Thailand's Suradit leads after first round of Panasonic Open golf tourney

Promising Thai golfer Suradit Yongcharoenchai fired 6-under 66 to lead after the first round of the Panasonic Open India 2018 at the Delhi Golf Club here on Thursday.

With three birdies in his last five holes on the front nine of the course, the 20-year-old Suradit, 10th tee starter ended the day with seven birdies against one bogey.

"I played really good today. I feel very good with my game. I hit a lot of fairways," Suradit said after a successful first round.

"My tee shots were very good today and that was the key to play well here. I played my irons very well too and gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities," he added.

Suradit pipped two Indians Ajeetesh Sandhu and Tapy Ghai, and Bangladesh pro Siddikur Rahman just when they seemed set to share the lead for the first round. The trio of Siddikur, Ghai and Sandhu fired 67.

Many other Indians had fair representation in the upper rows of the leaderboard as two-time Asian Tour winner and local DGC star Rashid Khan (68) and young 22-year-old Veer Ahlawat, playing his third season, were tied-5th alongside the Thai duo Jazz Janewattananond and Peradol Panyathanasedh.

Jeev Milkha Singh was both a surprise and welcome entrant in the group at tied-9th at 3-under 69, alongside two other Indians, 19-year-old Karandeep Kochhar and DGC golfer Kapil Kumar.

--IANS

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