Giving a highly clinical display, laced with a stunning eagles on the 14th and the 18th, crowd favourite Jyoti Randhawa fired a scintillating seven-under 65 to soar into the lead, even as two more Indians finished among the top ten, on the opening day of the US $2.5 million EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters at the Delhi Golf Club on Thursday.
Once again the DGC proved lucky for Jyoti, who had won the Hero Honda Indian Open on the course on his last appearance in October 2007.
On a day when several reputations got dented, Jyoti, along with Shiv Kapur and C Muniyappa, made a strong statement on behalf of Indian golf with a superb showing.
Jeev Milkha Singh, however, gave a dismal performance and ended the day with five over 77. The famed pro will have to work hard on the second day to make the cut.
Jyoti started cautiously on his favourite course and shot two birdies on the 3rd and 6th on his way out, in which he aggregated 34. But it was his return journey that enthralled his fans as he shot a birdie on the 12th and then fired eagles on the 14th and 18th to end the round and day on a very satisfying note. In the process, he left close rivals Richard Finch (England) and Damien Mc Grane (Ireland) in joint-second spot. Both carded identical 67.
''I played very well. I could not have asked for a better round,'' said a visibly pleased Jyoti.
''I watched two players before me putt on the 18th; I registered that in my mind and that helped me getting the eagle. I had done the same in the Indian Open in October,'' he said.
In the morning session, Shiv Kapur led the local charge after a four-under-par 68.
Kapur, the 2005 Asian Tour's Rookie of the Year, posted seven birdies against three dropped shots to finish the day joint-third along with Spain's Jose Manuel Lara and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn.
Unheralded C Muniyappa, who had a hole in one at the 12, carded creditable three under 69 and was clubbed joint fourth along with ten others.
But it was a round world No 4 South African Ernie Els will like to forget. Half way through he seemed to have hit a road block with a quadruple bogey 9 on the 18th hole, having started from the tenth much to the bewilderment of the crowd.
The DGC bushes claimed a high-profile victim when he hit his second shot into the rough next to the green. He took a penalty drop but that did not help as he stayed in the bushes.
It took him three more shots to get to the green and two more putts to end the ordeal. He had a round of 3-over-75 and was way down the leaderboard.
The New Delhi-born Kapur was one over after four holes but he grinded it out at the historical par-72 course.
''I'm actually pretty proud of myself that I hung in there. Things were not going my way for the first sort of six or seven holes. I was actually over par at one stage. It's just one of those things that you learn in competitive golf that you have to learn how to grind it out, even when you don't have your A Game, you have to learn to post a score and I managed to do that.
In all, 32 Indians were in the fray and it was an even day for most of them. Arjun Atwal, SSP Chowrasia Harmeet Kalhon and Digvijay shot an identical two-under 70.
Rahil and Ashok Kumar had a par 72 round while Amandeep Johl, Shamim Khan and Mukesh Kumar returned identical one over par 73 cards.
Gagan Bhullar, Gaurav Ghei, Sanjay Kumar, A S Lehal, Arjun Singh, Uttam Mundy, Ranjit Singh all had identical score of 75 while R Ganpathy and Vijay Kumar shot 76 each.
Thailand's Chinnarat Phadungsil enjoyed a solid start to the season with a 69 together with Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin, Spain's Alvaro Quiros Garcia, Dutchman Maarten Lafeber and Englishman Benn Barham.
''Thai young gun Chinnarat believes that the time spent with his parents on course during the year end break has helped him pull through a solid round today.
''I have been playing golf with my parents. My mom (Noo) and dad (Anan) are both single handicappers so playing with them help keep my game in check. My dad also gives me tips about course management every single time we play together so that helps the mental aspect of my game on how to tackle a golf course.
''I think this has helped improve my game coming into the 2008 season,'' said Chinnarat, who defeated Kapur in a play-off to win the 2005 Double A International Open in Bangkok at the age of 17 years and five days.
Scores after Round 1
Jyoti Randhawa (India) 65
Richard Finch (Britain) 67
Damien McGrane (Ireland) 67
Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 68
Shiv Kapur (India) 68
Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 68
Benn Barham (Britain) 69
Hendrik Buhrmann (South Africa) 69
Raphael Jacquelin (France) 69
Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 69
David Lynn (Britain) 69
Graeme McDowell (Britain) 69
C Muniyappa (India) 69
Mark O'Meara (US) 69
Chinarat Phadungsil (Thailand) 69
Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 69
Arjun Atwal (India) 70
Magnus Carlsson (Sweden) 70
S.S.P. Chowrasia (India) 70
Keith Horne (South Africa) 70
Harmeet Kahlon (India) 70
Simon Khan (Britain) 70
Sam Little (Britain) 70
Henrik Nystroem (Sweden) 70
Digvijay Singh (India) 70
Suk Jong-yul (South Korea) 70
Simon Yates (Britain) 70
Ross Bain (Britain) 71
Mark Brown (New Zealand) 71
Christian Cevaer (France) 71
Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 71
Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (France) 71
Scott Hend (Australia) 71
Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 71
Prom Meesawat (Thailand) 71
Unho Park (Australia) 71
Oliver Wilson (Britain) 71
Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay) 71
Emanuele Canonica (Italy) 72
Darren Clarke (Britain) 72
Rahil Giangjee (India) 72
Adam Groom (Australia) 72
Anthony Kang (U.S.) 72
Ashok Kumar (India) 72
Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal) 72
Ross McGowan (Britain) 72
Chapchai Nirat (Thailand) 72
Alexander Noren (Sweden) 72
Scott Strange (Australia) 72
Peter Whiteford (Britain) 72
Peter Baker (Britain) 73
Scott Barr (Australia) 73
Oliver Fisher (Britain) 73
Marcus Fraser (Australia) 73
Amandeep Johl (India) 73
Shamin Khan 73
Mukesh Kumar (India) 73
Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 73
Jarmo Sandelin (Sweden) 73
Iain Steel (Malaysia) 73
Leif Westerberg (Sweden) 73
Phillip Archer (Britain) 74
Adam Blyth (Australia) 74
Naman Dawar (India) 74
Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 74
Randhir Singh Ghotra (India) 74
Joakim Haeggman (Sweden) 74
David Howell (Britain) 74
Brendan Jones (Australia) 74
Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 74
Mardan Mamat (Singapore) 74
Prayad Marksaeng (Thailand) 74
Airil Rizman (Malaysia) 74
Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 74
Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Denmark) 74
Simon Wakefield (Britain) 74
Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 75
Gaganjeet Bhullar (India) 75
Ernie Els (South Africa) 75
Mark Foster (Britain) 75
Gaurav Ghei (India) 75
Sanjay Kumar (India) 75
Lee Sung (South Korea) 75
A.S. Lehal (India) 75
Michael Lorenzo-Vera (France) 75
Amardip Sinh Malik (India) 75
Stuart Manley (Britain) 75
Zane Scotland (Britain) 75
Arjun Singh (India) 75
Uttam Singh Mundy (India) 75
Ranjit Singh (India) 75
Carl Suneson (Spain) 75
Kane Webber (Australia) 75
Martin Wiegele (Austria) 75
Andrew Coltart (Britain) 76
Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 76
Rahul Ganapathy (India) 76
Jason Knutzon (U.S.) 76
Vijay Kumar (India) 76
Jean-Francois Lucquin (France) 76
Bae Sang-Moon (South Korea) 76
Thaworn Wiratchant (Thailand) 76
Garry Houston (Britain) 77
Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 77
Chris Rodgers (Britain) 77
Ali Sher (India) 77
Jeev Milkha Singh (India) 77
Vivek Bhandari (India) 78
Dave Horsey (Britain) 78
Abhishek Jha (India) 78
Chawalit Plaphol (Thailand) 78
Robert Dinwiddie (Britain) 79
Gupta Harendra Prasad (India) 79
Jaiveer S. Virk (India) 79
Gavin Flint (Australia) 80
Kim Kyung-Tae (South Korea) 80
Gary Simpson (Australia) 80
Simarjeet Singh (India) 82
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 83
