England's James Morrison and Scotland's Richie Ramsay shared the opening round lead at the Hero Indian Open with a five-under-par 66 Thursday, one shot ahead of local hope Shiv Kapur.
Along with Kapur on 67 at the Karnataka Golf Association course were Panuphol Pittayarat and Chapchai Nirat of Thailand, Kalle Samooja and Jaakko Makitalo of Finland, Spaniard Javi Colomo, and Zaw Moe of Myanmar.
Playing from the back nine, Zaw Moe shot back-to-back eagles on holes 11 and 12 to hold the lead for most of the round before making double bogey on the par three eighth hole at the $1.25 million Asian Tour event.
Ramsay, winner of the Omega European Masters in September which was sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour, turned in 34 with one eagle and one bogey at the tournament in southwest India.
The wind started to pick up late in the afternoon and so did Ramsay's form as he returned with four birdies in his homeward nine, according to a press release from organisers.
"I kept it going on the front nine and played lovely on the back. I hit it nicely on the last few holes but couldn't make my putts. As long as you are hitting fairways, there are a lot of chances out there," said Ramsay.
Morrison enjoyed a solid three-hole stretch when he birdied hole four and sank a huge 30 foot eagle putt on the par five fifth hole followed by another birdie on six.
"I kept out of the rough and found most of the fairways. The course was brilliant and I like this kind of an old-style course, which is tree-lined and challenging," he said.
Leading scores:
66 - James Morrison (ENG), Richie Ramsay (SCO)
67 - Panuphol Pittayarat (THA), Chapchai Nirat (THA), Kalle Samooja (FIN), Jaakko Makitalo (FIN), Javi Colomo (ESP), Shiv Kapur (IND), Zaw Moe (MYN)
68 - Angelo Que (PHI), Jason Knutzon (USA), Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Shankar Das (IND)
