Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, Chandigarh-based Abhijit Singh Chadha and Shivendra Singh Sisodia of Gurugram were tied third with matching scores of 66.

Pre-tournament favourites, Yuvraj shot one over 73 to be tied 48th while defending champion Udayan Mane signed for a 74 to be tied 65th.

Amardeep Malik was off to a flying start as he fired four birdies in his first six holes hitting his irons well and rolling in the putts. He then added another birdie and bogey on the back-nine before sinking an eagle on the first hole from four feet.

The 36-year-old’s longest putt of the day was the 15-feet birdie conversion on the second. His progress slowed down thereafter as his putter went cold on the front-nine as he missed some short putts.

Amardeep said, “I was lucky that I made a few putts in the start that got my round going. The putter then went cold on the front-nine but I hit it well all day and am very pleased to have posted my lowest score this season. This should hopefully set the tone for the rest of the tournament for me."

Manu began his tournament with an eagle on the first where he had a lucky break after his drive rebounded off a tree back onto the fairway. His second shot then landed a couple of feet from the flag to give him the ideal start.

He, thereafter added six more birdies and a bogey to his card as he went five-under on the four par-5s. He made a great recovery for birdie on the par-5 eighth after finding the adjoining fairway with his second shot.

“I feel I had good control on my ball-flight today and struck my woods and irons well. I had one lucky break on the first hole and I managed to capitalize on that. That kept the momentum going for me and there was no silly mistake thereafter,” said the two-time winner on the PGTI.