Surya Nepal NPGA Tour C’ship
Bhuwan, Dhana share lead in opening day
KATHMANDU, April 21 : Bhuwan (Umesh) Nagarkoti carded six-under 66 in the opening day of the Surya Nepal NPGA Tour Championship to stand atop the leaderboard at the par-72 Gokarna Golf Club in Kathmandu on Monday.
Bhuwan holds five-stroke lead over Nepal number one pro Shiva Ram Shrestha and Sanjay Lama. Both carded one-under 71. Bal Bhadra Rai and Suman Rai of Dharan are tied fourth at even-par 72. Purna Sharma, Rabi Khadka, Ramesh Adhikari, Surya Prasad Sharma, Deepak Neupane , and Rame Magar are tied sixth at one-over 73. Jayaram Shrestha and Sunil Mizar are one stroke further at two-over 74 and tied on 12th position.
Shivaram carded three-under 33 on the front nine with birdies on the first, fourth, fifth and ninth holes, he dropped a shot on eighth hole. On the back nine he added birdies on 11th and 12th holes but played disastrous double bogies on 14th and 16th holes settled him for two-over 38.
Sanjay was one-under 35 on the front nine, he made birdies on third and sixth holes but dropped a shot on the fourth hole. On the second half he made an eagle on the 11th hole and but he then made bogies on 13th, 14th and 17th holes for even-par 36.
Bikash Bogati stood on top of the amateur section with three-over 75 while Mithun Rai is second at four-over 76. Tanka Bahadur Karki is a third at seven-over 79.
A total of 41 players including 34 pros and seven amateur golfers are taking part in the four-day tournament. Cut will be applied after the second round of the tournament with top 21 players making it to the final two rounds.