Young S Chikkarangrappa, who announced his arrival with a win on the Asian Development Tour in 2014, shot a five-under 66 at the par-71 Springfield Royal course in the Asian Tour Qualifying School final stage presented by Sports Authority of Thailand here today.
Chikka was the best among the 16 Indians trying to gain an Asian Tour card for this season.
The next best Indian was Angad Cheema (69) at the par-72 Imperial Lakeview Golf and he was tied 23rd, while Himmat Rai (70 at Imperial) was tied 36th.
Amardip Malik and C Muniyappa shot 71 each to be tied 43rd along with Abhinav Lohan.
Amateur Samarth Dwivedi (72), who came through the First stage was tied 70 with a round of even par 71 at Imperial course.
Khalin Joshi (73) at tied 98th, Kapil Kumar (75), Karan Taunk (74), Divyanshu Bajaj (75), Shubhankar Sharma (75), Ajeetesh Sandhu (76), Feroz Ali (77) and Abhishek Jha (78) are the other Indians in the field.
Danthai Boonma of Thailand fired a bogey-free six-under-par 65 in the opening round.
Danthai, a double South East Asia (SEA) Games gold medalist in 2012, nailed six birdies to share the lead with Japan's Ryosuke Kinoshita, Australian duo Paul Spargo and Lee Jun-seok, who all played at the par-71 Springfield Royal Golf Club.
Chikka is determined to erase the heartbreak of missing out on his Tour card by one shot at the Qualifying School last year.
"Missing by a mere one shot last year really taught me a lot. It actually made me a stronger person. I learnt a lot from my experience last year. I am just going to focus on what I need to do this time round and make sure I don't put myself in that kind of position again," said Chikka, who mixed his card with seven birdies against two bogeys.
Despite missing out on his Tour card last season, Chikka enjoyed a relatively good season in 2014 when he claimed a total of three victories on home soil, which includes a maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) win.
2014 Asian Tour Qualifying School winner Akinori Tani of Japan, who played at the par-72 Imperial Lakeview Golf Club, stayed one shot back in fifth place with seven other players including India's Chikka, Australian Gavin Flint and Korean duo Kim Do-hoon and Park Jun-sub.
A total of 231 players teed off in the all-important Final Stage where the top-40 and ties will earn an Asian Tour card for the 2015 season. After two days, the top-100 and ties will progress to the final two rounds which will be played at Springfield Royal.
