Adam leads Day 1 charge at Indian Open

He gave away nothing with the matter-of-fact look on the face,but the penalty drop was clearly blotting Gaganjeet Bhullars agenda for the day.

He gave away nothing with the matter-of-fact look on the face,but the penalty drop was clearly blotting Gaganjeet Bhullars agenda for the day. Having come off a bogey courtesy a plugged tee shot on the par-four 13th hole,Bhullar had hit a monster drive on the par-five 14th hole his fifth of the round in trying to make it up right away. Unfortunately,the aggressive intent of reaching the green with his second shot ended in thorny bushes of the out-of-bounds area just in front,and after the necessary drop,the subsequent twelve-footer for par never looked like going in. It wasnt quite the round anyone had visualised for the 21-year-old,and despite a birdie-birdie finish,Bhullar could only manage a one-over 73 opener to the first Indian Open he has started shouldering home hopes.

That flag on Thursday was picked up by a name that was less of a surprise than it seems. C Muniyappa might not have been among the hot picks,but the Bangalore pro has been a different player since making his first overseas Asian Tour cut at the Brunei Open this August. Muniyappas six-under 66 has him as the best Indian,tied for third along with Australian Jason King,and two shots behind another Aussie,Adam Blyth.

Muniyappa was at a hardly exciting one-under after 14 holes,when his chip from 25 yards on the par-four 15th landed on the green,rolled and dropped into the cup to give the 32-year-old an eagle and a fillip that lasted all the way to the finish. Muniyappa birdied the three remaining holes to make the huge jump on the leaderboard.

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The topmost name on it planned it out slightly differently. Blyth,who had ended third at last years Indian Open,might have the slowest of strokes,but his morning start was sprightly. Starting on the 10th,the 27-year-old birdied the first three holes,and picked up two more by the turn. Then on the seventh,his tee shot went way right and stuck right behind a tree. Blyth could only play it out,but he sank the pressure putt for par. On the finishing ninth,an attacking tee shot that crossed the sharp dog leg perfectly gave him another birdie. It was all about putting, Blyth said. I made all the crucial ten-foot ones.

Koreas Lee Sung is second,a shot back. Daniel Chopra shot five-under 67 to be tied for fifth,but Arjun Atwal only managed a three-over 75. Michael Campbell struggled to a four-over 76.

Leaderboard: 8-under Adam Blyth (AUS) (64); 7-under Lee Sung (KOR) (65); 6-under C Muniyappa (IND) (66); Jason King (AUS) (66); 5-under Unho Park (AUS) (67); Daniel Chopra (67); Keith Horne (AUS) (67); 4-under Digvijay Singh (IND) (68); Harinder Gupta (68); Kwanchai Tannin (68); Arjun Singh (68)

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