India finish round one tied for 22nd place at Eisenhower Trophy

Adelaide, Oct 16 (UNI) Gagan Verma carded the only under par round for the team as India found itself in the tied 22nd position at the end of the first round of the Eisenhower Trophy world amateur team golf championships here.

United States, who were the pre-tournament favourites, were heading the team leaderboard.

India's charge was led by LG Amateur Tour Order of Merit leader Gagan Verma who carded the only under par round for the team, finishing his round one under par, which left him in tied 18th position in the individual standings.

Rashid Khan, who has registered a top 10 finish in a tournament in Australia previously, failed to impress and finished with five over 77.

Saurabh Bahuguna, the winner of the LG Coimbatore Open, carded a three over par round which meant that India's score was made up by the performance of the two senior pros in the team.

India's overall total is two over which is the total of Gagan Verma and Saurabh Bahuguna's score.

The United States team led the charge with a total of 10 under par and they are two strokes clear of the second best team, Scotland.

Danny Lee, the number one Amateur in the world, ensured that New Zealand finished day one tied for sixth place after he carded the best round for the team, a three under par 70. Hosts Australia were placed 17th on the leaderboard.

Puerto Rico's Mauricio Muniz was the top performer after he finished his round with an eight under par 64 which included two bogeys.

The format of the tournament means that it is not all gloom for Rashid Khan as he can bounce back in the second round to help push the team up the leaderboard. The first round was played on two courses, the Royal Adelaide Golf Club a par 72 course and the Grange Golf Club a par73 course.

Scores: 1> US (-10); 2> Scotland (-8); 3> Puerto Rico (-7); 4> Wales (-5), 5> France (-5); 22> India (+2) UNI XC AB KN1945