Rookie S S P Chowrasia and the in-form Rahil Gangjee flew the Indian tri-colour high, occupying the top two spots at the end of the first round at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters golf tournament in Taipei on Thursday.
Chowrasia, who has been showing great progress in his first season on Asian Tour, continued his fine run with a course-record equalling bogey-free eight-under-par 64 that gave him a two-shot lead over fellow Indian Gangjee and Adam Blyth, who have shot six-under 66 each.
The-28-year-old Chowrasia knocked in eight birdies and had no bogeys in the first round of the USD 500,000 event. He equalled the course record at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club held by Chinese Taipei's Yuan Ching-chi since 1994.
Gangjee, ranked 29th on the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit, after his third place in Korea last week, carded a 66 for joint second position alongside Blyth of Australia.
American talent Jason Knutzon took sole fourth spot after a 67 while local hero Chung Chun-hsing was in fifth place four strokes off the pace.
Chowrasia, who finished second in the 1999 Indian Open, but never ventured outside India in the period since then, started from the back nine on the 10th tee. He fired birdies at the 10th, 13th, 15th and 18th holes with four more birdies on the first, fifth, sixth and seventh holes on the inward nine for a superb day.
"It is the first time I am playing on this course and I enjoyed myself out there as the greens and fairways are in excellent shape. My putting and driving were consistent today so that helped me produce a very good round," Chowrasia said.
"This is my best score on the Asian Tour and I am very happy that everything has been working well. The greens here are in almost similar conditions to the greens back home in India so I was quite comfortable with the course. I was aggressive today and I will continue with that strategy tomorrow," Chowrasia said.
"I have been enjoying a good spell this season and my game has been gradually improving the more I play on Tour. I have played in nine events before this and have made the cut in all of them. So I am definitely happy with my form," he added.
Chowrasia has chalked up a string of solid results with four top-20 finishes this year. He claimed joint 12th spot at the Philippine Open in May followed by a tied eighth place finish at the Bangkok Airways Open in June.
He then ended his campaign in joint 15th spot at the Crowne Plaza Open in China two months ago and later finished tied in 19th position at the star-studded Barclays Singapore Open.
"I enjoy playing on Tour. Uttam Singh Mundy is one of the many players who is always there to help me. He told me a while back that the only way to improve is to set goals for myself as the competition here is tight. I know that my game has improved since I joined the Tour and I hope it will l get even better," said the Calcutta-born player.
