JOIN USSri Lanka’s Mithun Perera shot six-under-par 66 to lead in the opening round of the US$400,000 Panasonic Open at the Delhi Golf Club here on Thursday.
The 28-year-old, who has five wins on the domestic PGTI Tour but none on the Asian, sank seven birdies, including four on the closing five holes, to hold a one-shot advantage over an in-form Chiragh Kumar of India and Sattaya Supupramai of Thailand.
Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rahman, N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka, India’s Abhijit Chadha and Thai duo Thaworn Wiratchant, a two-time Asian Tour number one, and Thitiphun Chuayprakong were joint fourth on 68.
Perera, who lost in a three-way play-off here last year, picked shots on 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th holes to grab the outright lead. The only blip in his successful run was a bogey in the fifth hole.
“It is nice to start with two gimmie birdies. That gave me a lot of confidence,” said Perera, who holed 24 putts on the day.
“I’ll try and keep to this rhythm in the next three rounds. I always have good confidence when I’m here because of my accuracy.
Chiragh fired six birdies on his home course to build on his good form after finishing tied second at the Macao Open three weeks ago.
“I got off to a good start with three straight birdies and that gave me some momentum. It was nice to finish with a 10-foot birdie on the last hole,” he said.
The 31-year-old Sattaya fired his best score at DGC to hold a clubhouse lead but missed a close range birdie putt on the last hole to slip to joint second.
“I like this golf course but I always did badly here. I’ve missed many cuts here. I have no complaints with my score today except that poor birdie attempt on 18,” said Sattaya.
Leading scores (after 18 holes): 66: Mithun Perera (SL); 67: Chiragh Kumar (Ind), Sattaya Supupramai (Tha); 68: Thitiphun Chuayprakong (Tha), N Thangaraja (SL), Siddikur Rahman (Ban), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Abhijit Chadha (Ind); 69: Anura Rohana (SL), Niall Turner (Ire), S Chikkarangappa (Ind), Shankar Das (Ind), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), K Prabagaran (SL), Khalin Joshi (Ind), George Gandranata (Ina).