Harinder shots 65 for opening round lead in PGTI Championship

Bangalore, Dec 19 (UNI) Harinder Gupta stole the thunder from pre-tournament favourite SSP Chowrasia and carded a bogey-free 65 to claim the first round lead at the Rs.50 Lakh EMAAR-MGF PGTI Championship here today.

The third leg of the 2006-07 season on the Professional Golf Tour of India, the Championship is being promoted by golf in DUBAI and the winner of the tournament will get a direct entry to play the Dubai Desert Classic to be played at the Emirates Golf Club from February 1-4, 2007.

''My putting was excellent today and I also drove the ball well,'' said Harinder.

''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 10 to 12-under-par so I have my work cut out for me,'' added the youngster from Chandigarh.

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.

Manav Jaini and Harmeet Kahlon were both tied for third place after carding dentical scores of five-under 67.

Four-time Indian Tour order of merit winner, Mukesh Kumar, Gurbaaz Mann, Amritinder Singh, Sujjan Singh, Ali Sher, Vivek Bhandari were all tied at two-under-par, 70. Tournament favourite SSP Chowrasia carded a 71 and was a further stroke behind tied alongside Arjun Singh, S Madaiah.

top score (After 18 holes): 65: Harinder Gupta 66: Amardip Singh Malik 67: Manav Jaini, Harmeet Kahlon 69: Amandeep Johl 70: Mukesh Kumar, Gurbaaz Mann, Amritinder Singh, Sujjan Singh, Ali Sher, Vivek Bhandari 71: SSP Chowrasia, Randhir Ghotra, Dipender Khullar, BG Lalith Kumara, GS Sethi, Karanjit Singh, Arjun Singh, S Madiah, Gaganjeet Bhullar 72: Rahul Ganapathy, Chiragh Kumar, Ashok Kumar.

UNI XC AY KN1832