Vijay, Mukesh lead BPGC Open

The leadergroup of the day, comprising Vijay, Mukesh and Sanjay, started at six-under each. In the morning, it was Vijay who made a jump start with a birdie on the first. Thereafter, two of his birdie putts lipped out 8211; on the fourth and eighth, but thanks to his steady hitting, he made the turn without any damage at one-under for the day.

On the other hand, Mukesh scrambled for pars on the par-5 first and fourth, but made up with stunning birdie putts on the fifth 15 feet downhill and seventh 35-feet right-to-Left. At that point, he was the sole leader at eight-under. But a three-putt bogey on the eighth and an unfortunate double bogey on the 9th, where his second shot sailed way left and into the bushes, saw him drop down to one- over for the round. Mumbaiacirc;euro;trade;s Gagan Verma continued his consistent performance among amateurs with a two-over 72 and joined leader Jaideep Patwardhan of Pune at 10-over 220. Rajiv Datar was third at 224.