Ankur Chadha, Kapil Kumar take joint lead in RCGC Open Golf Championship

Gurugram's Ankur Chadha and Delhi's Kapil Kumar shot scores of four-under-68 to take the joint lead in round one of the inaugural ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship here on Thursday.

The Chandigarh duo of rookie Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Akshay Sharma as well as Mumbai's Anil Bajrang Mane were in tied third at three-under-69 on day one of the Rs. 40 lakh event.

Sunit Chowrasia and Md Sanju performed the best among the Kolkata golfers on Thursday as the duo was in tied sixth with matching scores of two-under-70.

Chadha grew in confidence after his good execution of a couple of tricky approach shots early in his round on the 10th and 12th. The 25-year-old was then on a roll as he came up with some quality tee shots and approaches to pick up birdies on the 14th, 16th and 18th.

Chadha, who turned professional in 2016, found the bunker on the par-3 second where he conceded his only bogey of the day after missing an up and down. He seemed to make up for that error when he recovered well from the rough on the fourth with a chip-putt for birdie.

However, the tall and sturdy golfer's best birdie came on the tough seventh hole where he found the centre of the fairway with his tee shot before landing his approach to within eight feet of the hole, a putt that he converted.

After a steady start with pars on his first five holes, Kapil made headway when he chipped-in for eagle on the 15th.

The 27-year-old Kapil, lying 46th in the PGTI Order of Merit, then collected three more birdies, two thanks to long conversions, against a bogey on the front-nine to join Chadha at the top of the pack.

Delhi's Kshitij Naveed Kaul, the highest-ranked player in the field being fourth in the PGTI Rankings, struck an even-par-72 in round one to occupy tied 20th place.