Shiv Kapur excelled with a fine four-under 67 and stood at tied third place after the first round of the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open on Thursday.
Kapur, who missed the cut last week in Malaysia, was two behind the leader Chawalit Plaphol (66) and one behind second-placed Finn Mikko Ilonen (66) at the par-71 Damai Indah Golf and Country Club in the event sanctioned by Asian and European Tours.
It was a good day for the Indians, as both SSP Chowrasia and Gaurav Ghei landed an eagle each on the same par-5 13th hole and came in with a three-under 68 each. They were both tied at sixth.
Amandeep Johl went one over 71 and was tied 56th, while Rahil Gangjee had a bad day with a six-over 77, leaving a lot of work to be done to make the cut.
Plaphol enjoyed a blemish free round and took the early opening round lead and maintained it till the end of play today.
Chawalit, 32, took charge with six birdies and was followed closely by Finland's Mikko Ilonen, who was a stroke adrift.
However not all players were able to finish their first round as threat of lightning brought an early end to play and 36 players were still to finish their round. The best among them was Park Jun Won, who was four-under with six more holes to play.
Kapur, who started on the back nine, kept a steady pace in the opening round firing five birdies before dropping a shot at the eighth hole, which pushed him down to joint-third spot.
"I was in a rush this morning and did not have time to have my breakfast. But I've pulled through the round. Low in energy but managed to get a good score. I'm pleased," said Kapur, whose best in a European Tour event is a tied seventh at the Indonesia Open last year in the same week.
"I played quite steady and didn't hit many bad shots at all. I started off with a string of pars and went on to hit three birdies in a row on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes, and I continued to play steady after that. I was pretty solid out there and was putting well too," he added.
Ghei had a sedate start with one bogey and nine pars in his first ten holes and then he had birdies on 11th and 12th and eagle on 13th followed by yet another birdie on 17th. But he spoilt his run with a bogey on 18th and ended at 68.
The steady Chowrasia, who had a bogey on 11th after starting from tenth, eagled the 13th and then had three birdies and one bogey on back nine.
Johl had three birdies and four bogeys, while Gangjee had no birdies and had four bogeys and one double bogey for his miserable 77 in 129th place.
Tied with Kapur in third place was Mads Vibe-Hastrup of Denmark who carded a 67 and Park Jun Won who was four-under through 12 holes.
Defending champion Simon Dyson of England shot a 70 and is in joint 10th place while Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee was in tied 28th spot after a 72.
Leading first round scores:
65 - Chawalit Plaphol (THA)
66 - Mikko Ilonen (FIN)
67 - Mads Vibe-Hastrup (DEN), Shiv Kapur (IND)
68 - Gaurav Ghei (IND), Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), S.S.P. Chowrasia (IND), Bryan Saltus (USA), Chapchai Nirat (THA), Nam Young-woo (KOR), Christian Cevaer (FRA)
69 - Mark Foster (ENG), Simon Hurd (ENG), Suk Jong-yul (KOR), Scott Strange (AUS), Ted Oh (KOR), Patrik Sjoland (SWE), 70 - Steve Alker (NZL), James Heath (ENG), Simon Dyson (ENG), Airil Rizman Zahari (MAS), Andrew Marshall (ENG), Chinarat Phadungsil (THA), Carlos Rodiles (ESP), Mark Mouland (WAL), Henrik Nystrom (SWE).
