Madappa, Tamang hold joint lead after round one of Bengaluru Open

Bengaluru, Oct 7 (PTI) Kolkata's Viraj Madappa and Nepal golfer Subash Tamang posted scores of six-under 65 to hold the joint lead after round one of Rs 1 crore Bengaluru Open here on Tuesday.

The five players bunched in tied third place at five-under 66 included Sri Lankan N Thangaraja, Bangladesh's Md Muaj, Lucknow's Sanjeev Kumar, Chandigarh's Akshay Sharma and Greater Noida's Saptak Talwar.

The highest-placed among the Bengaluru-based players were Mari Muthu R, Chikkarangappa S and Manoj S, all of whom shot 69 to be placed tied 19th. Defending champion Abhinav Lohan too was placed tied 19th.

Madappa, who became the youngest Indian to win an international event at the age of 20 at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course in 2018, made a steady start with three birdies and a bogey on the back-nine.

Madappa then powered ahead with five birdies and a bogey on the front-nine where he produced some exceptional wedge shots and a 55-feet conversion.

Tamang's outstanding tee shots resulted in a strong back-nine for him where he collected five birdies.

Tamang added two more birdies on the front-nine before dropping his only bogey of the day on the closing ninth hole.

The Bengaluru Open is returning for its fourth edition after a six-year gap. PTI SSC BS BS