Gill, Ghai and Baisoya share the lead

Pukhraj Singh Gill of Ludhiana was in joint lead with Tapendra Ghai and Honey Baisoya with a six-under 64 on the opening day of the Rs. 1 crore Calance Open at the Qutab Golf Course on Tuesday.

After an early bogey, Pukhraj had seven birdies to go six-under on the par-70 course, which is hosting a PGTI event after 15 years.

“I had played on this course as a junior. It has changed a lot and poses more challenges now. The fairways are narrow and it is a risk-reward course,” said Pukhraj.

Honey Baisoya had a bogey-free round while Tapendra had eight birdies and two bogeys.

While Chandigarh-based 15-year-old Neil Jolly shot 68 to be the highest placed amateur at tied 23rd, the champion of the last tournament, Sachin Baisoya, shot three-over 73 and was tied 95th.

The leading scores: 1T. Pukhraj Singh Gill, Tapendra Ghai, Honey Baisoya (64); 4T. Kapil Kumar, Shankar Das, Karandeep Kocchhar, Yuvraj Sandhu, Badal Hossain (65); 9T. Ravi Kumar, K Prabagaran (66); 11T. Shivendra Sisodia, Kartik Sharma, Varun Parikh, Dhruv Sheoran, Aniket Sawant, Abhinav Lohan, Akshay Neranjen, Arjun Prasad, Md. Solayeman, Gaurav Pratap Singh, Bikramjit Singh Sandhu, R Mari Muthu (67).