Jaipur, Nov 13 (IANS) Delhi golfer Arjun Prasad shot a sizzling opening round of eight-under 62, a bogey-free effort, to take the lead in the INR 1 crore Jaipur Open 2024 being played at the Rambagh Golf Club here on Wednesday. Pune’s Pranav Mardikar came up with a seven-under 63 at the par-70 course to be placed second.

Seven players including last week’s winner Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Indian star Rashid Khan, M. Dharma, Harendra Gupta, Jamal Hossain, Mari Muthu, and Mohd Azhar were bunched in tied third position at 64. Jaipur’s Prakhar Asawa carded a 67 to be the highest-placed among the local golfers as he occupied tied 23rd position.

Aryaman Aditya Mohan of Mumbai too shot a 67 to be tied 23rd and in the process became only the fifth player in PGTI history to make three eagles in a round following in the footsteps of Ali Sher, Yashas Chandra, Veer Ahlawat, and Manu Gandas.

Arjun Prasad’s putter was on fire on Wednesday as he sank three birdie putts from 25 feet and another birdie from 12 feet. The 25-year-old Arjun, searching for his maiden title, also made a couple of quality chip-putts for birdies and narrowly missed an eagle from 15 feet on the eighth. Arjun said, “I read the lines on the greens really well and thus managed to roll in many birdie putts. I must compliment the Rambagh Golf Club for providing us with excellent greens.

“I have a strategy in place. Hitting close and making putts and giving myself chances on the Par-5s as well as capitalizing on the short Par-3s and Par-4s will be the key overall. My game has been trending well over the past few weeks. So I just want to keep repeating what I’ve been doing recently,” he said.

Pranav Mardikar returned eight birdies in exchange for a bogey on Day One to match his personal best score of seven-under. His previous round of seven-under was also achieved at the Rambagh Golf Club last year. Pranav came really close to making a hole-in-one on the Par-3 16th where his tee shot stopped an inch from the pin. He also made four birdie conversions from a range of 10 to 20 feet.

Pranav said, “I had a good ball-striking day and hit almost every ball in play. I did well with the putter too. I have had the momentum from last week’s event in Pune where I had a decent finish. It’s essential for me to capitalize on this start because I’m just outside the top 60 in the PGTI’s merit list at the moment and am looking to seal my card this week.

“I have some good memories of my round of seven-under at Jaipur last year. My short-game has been consistent and my ball-striking has also shown up in the last two weeks,” he said.