Khalin Joshi takes lead on first day at All India Amateur golf

Bangalore: Local lad, Khalin Joshi landed an eagle in the opening round to take the first day honours at

the All India Amateur golf championships here on Tuesday. The 18-year-old Joshi`s four-under 68 was one of the only three sub-par rounds on the first day of the tournament at the KGA Golf course. Joshi, a very successful and promising young player, had an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys in his 68 and was one shot clear of CG Somiah (69) and Abhijeet Chadha (71), an Asian Games silver medalist in team event, who were the only golfers to come back with sub-par rounds. The more fancied S Chikkrangappa, the defending champion at the event, shot three bogeys in the last five holes and dropped to 74 in tied sixth place along with Delhi`s Honey Baisoya (75). Abhinav Lohan, a teammate of Chadha at the Guangzhou Asian Games, carded 75 and was tied 11th. Joshi had three birdies in the first five holes and then dropped a shot on seventh to turn in two-under. On the back nine, he birdied 10th, and then eagled the par-five 11th and found yet another birdie on 12th to go six-under. But he gave away that fine streak with bogeys on 15th and 18th. Chadha and Lohan, forming India `A`, however, led the team competition with a total of 146, and they were trailed by India `B` with Khalin Joshi and Gagan Verma (75). Trishul Chinappa ((77) and Chikka (74), teammates in the recent Asian Junior gold medal winning Indian team, were tied third at 151 with the Bangladesh team of Mohd Nazim (76) and Dulal Hussain (75). The top 32 players from the two rounds of stroke play will qualify for the matchplay competition to be played from Thursday. The first round of matchplay will be played on Thursday and the second and third rounds on Friday, followed by semi-finals on Saturday and the final on Sunday. PTI