Muniyappa opens up a two-stroke lead at TAKE Solutions Classic

C Muniyappa returned an impressive five-under-67 to take the early lead on the opening day of the TAKE Solutions Classic, here today.
The Bnagalorean was two ahead of the rest as rookie Sachin Baisoya of Delhi and Meerut's Sudhir Sharma occupied joint second place at three-under-69 at the Noida Golf Course.
As weather conditions change several times during the day, from bright and sunny to cloudy and overcast, Muniyappa defied recent injury concerns to come up with the best score of the day.
The former Indian Open champion hit his straps early with four birdies on the front-nine against a lone bogey.

The 39-year-old Bengaluru lad seemed to roll in putts at will especially from a range of 10 to 15 feet as he added another four birdies to his card at the expense of two bogeys on the inward nine.
Muniyappa's opening round effort was all the more special as he has been troubled by a lower back injury for the last 10 days which resurfaced after a gap of seven months.

"An old lower back injury came back to trouble me just about 10 days back as I felt a lot of pain. I'm feeling much better now after getting Ayurvedic treatment. The injury has restricted my back movement but hasn't really hampered my swing," he said.

Baisoya, playing his first season as a professional, made four birdies against a lone bogey to be two off the lead. The highlight of his round was a 20-feet conversion on the 16th.
Sudhir shared second place with Baisoya in round one as he mixed six birdies with three bogeys. He was the leading player from the host state of Uttar Pradesh on day one.
Fourth place was shared by Jaipur's Vishal Singh, Delhi golfers Gaurav Ghei and Shamim Khan and the Chandigarh duo of Sujjan Singh and Feroz Singh Garewal at two-under-70.
Gaurav Pratap Singh was the highest-placed golfer from Noida at tied ninth with a score of one-under-71.

Pre-tournament favourites Rashid Khan of Delhi and Gurgaon's Shubhankar Sharma, the current Rolex Ranking leader, also took a share of ninth position.
Noida's Amardip Sinh Malik was in tied 15th at even-par-72 along with Delhi's Himmat Singh Rai.
Reigning Rolex Ranking champion S Chikkarangappa, another tournament favourite, shot a four-over-76 to be tied 69th.