Inida's Angad Cheema fired a blistering eight-under 64 to take sole lead as top players from the SAARC region took full advantage of the perfect conditions, conducive for low scoring, on day one of the Nepal Masters, here today.
Close on his heels, one stroke back was Cheema's compatriot Vinod Kumar who led his team to victory at yesterday's pro-am and continued his good form with a 65.
A further stroke drift was former champion Shamim Khan who opened with a 66.
Keeping the Nepal flag flying was Shivaram Shrestha whose round of 65 kept him in touch with the leaders and he joined the pack of Shankar Das, Ranjit Singh and Karan Taunk along with old war horse Gaurav Ghei on what was a very impressive leader board at the end of Day-1.
There was further joy for the home country when Sanjay Lama turned in a round of 67 and Bikash Bogati product of the Surya Nepal Khelparyatan Programme took the amateur lead with a well-compiled round of 69.
His stable mate Bishnu Sharma and Sanjeev C K had rounds of 72 to be sharing the second place amongst the amateurs. Surya Prasad Sharma with a 71 and Deepak Thapa Magar with a 72 and Purna Sharma with a 73 along with Rabi Khadka and Toran Shahi at 74 are currently within the cut-line.
The best Bangladeshi on show was Md.Zamal Hossain Mollah who had an even par round of 72 while N Thangaraja from Sri Lanka had a poor day and returned a 79.
Leader Cheema's scorecard was dotted with nine birdies and his only blemish came on the 17th hole. After a sedate start of 2 pars, he reeled off birdies on his 3rd and 4th holes before hitting a real purple patch when he birdied the 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th and then again the 14th and 18th.
