Gangjee shares lead with 5 others; Shankar also in top 10

Rahil Gangjee set the course on fire under a laden sky with a flawless six-under 66 to lead the home challenge by sharing the top position with five others on the opening day of the 50th Hero Indian Open Golf tournament here today.
Shankar Das was the next best-placed Indian at the seventh spot after he carded a sizzling five-under 67, while Shamim Khan, with a four-under 68, was the other home golfer inside the top 10 bracket of the leaderboard of the USD 1.25 million event.
On a day when other big names such as Gaganjeet Bhullar (77), Anirban Lahiri (71), Jyoti Randhawa (70), Shiv Kapur (75) and Arjun Atwal (73), found the going tough, Gangjee led the Indian charge after Mohammad Siddikur of Bangladesh grabbed the early lead, following his blemish-free 66.

As the day went by, four other golfers -- Mardan Mamat of Singapore, the Thai duo of Pariya Junhasavasdikul and Chapchai Nirat and Spain's Carlos Pigem -- joined Gangjee and Siddikur at the top.
SSP Chowrasia, Chiragh Kumar and Rashid Khan brought home matching three-under 69s to lie at tied 11th.
Gangjee sank as many as four birdies on the front nine and two strokes on the back stretch, which included saving par on the last hole, to keep the Indian flag fluttering at the venerable Delhi Golf Club.
Starting at the 10th tee, the Kolkata-golfer picked up birdies on the 11th and 18th holes and then added four more at the first, fourth, sixth and eighth holes to join Siddikur at the top.

"My longest putt was on the eighth hole from 20 feet. I kept it going, I didn't stop making birdies. I lost track of my score which is a good thing! Sometimes when you go low then it happens. I was aware of what I was doing but I just lost track of my score," said Gangjee.