Harinder shoots 65 to lead EMAAR-MGF PGTI Championship

Bangalore, Dec 19 (UNI) Harinder Gupta carded a bogey-free 65 to claim first round lead at the Rs 50 Lakh EMAAR-MGF PGTI Championship, which began at the Karnataka Golf Association here today.

The Chandigarh lad said ''my putting was excellent and I also drove the ball well. The greens are rolling well and are true, so that helped me to hole quite a few putts. However, I think the winning score this week can be anything between ten and 12-under-par so I have my work cut out for me.'' One stroke behind him was Amardip Singh Malik, the only Indian professional to earn his card for 2007 at the Asian Tour qualifying school last week. Birdies on the third, fifth and seventh took him to three-under for the day, but a solitary bogey on the par-three eighth hole where he three-putted from 40-feet saw him make the turn at two-under-par, 34.

Amardip then birdied the tenth and 14th holes and two back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, resulting in 66.

''I missed a lot more putts today. I could have holed about five more putts as I hit 17 regulations. But I am happy with my game,'' he said.

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