Tough first day for Indians in Korea

The Indian golfers did not have a great day in office with Rahil Gangjee (71) being the best- placed at tied-38th at the Shinhan Donghae Open, which started here today.

Gangjee (71), at even par, was way behind the two leaders -- Kyungnam Kang and Junsung Kim -- who fired matching six- under-par 65s to share the first round lead.

Defending champion Gaganjeet Bhullar had two bogeys and two birdies till he had double on the 18th for a two-over 73 and was tied 79th, the same as Jeev Milkha Singh, who won his pro title in Korea back in 1994.
 

Shubhankar Sharma and S Chikkarangappa carded one-over 72 each to be tied-59th. Chiragh Kumar and Sujjan Singh shot 74 each and were tied-95th.

Co-leader Kim had the honour of recording the tournament's first hole-in-one when he aced the par-three 12, while Kang fired seven birdies against a lone bogey to set the early pace at the KRW1.2 billion (approximately USD 1.06 million), co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Korean PGA.

The Korean duo hold a two-shot advantage over a quartet of players that include Korean-American Chan Kim, France's Lionel Weber as well as compatriots Younghan Song and Seungtaek Lee.

Malaysia's Gavin Green kept in touch with the leaders by returning with a 68 to take a share of seventh place.

Korea's Sangmoon Bae struggled in his first professional event since being discharged from military service when he signed for a 74 to stay well off the pace in tied-98th place.