KATHMANDU: Amateur Rupak Acharya took one-stroke lead over pro Rabi Khadka after the first round of the Surya Nepal Central Open at the Gokarna Golf Club today.

Rupak carded a lone birdie on the third hole before dropping a shot on the next that put him even par 36 on the front nine. Rupak, the top amateur of the country and the younger brother of pro Deepak, sank an eagle on the 12th and saved pars on all the other holes to complete the round with two-under 70.

The RNGC pro Rabi was one stroke adrift of the lead at one-under 71. Rabi was the only other golfer apart from Acharya to submit the under-par card in the 35-man field. Rabi began the day with a bogey but earned a shot with a birdie on the seventh hole to take the turn at even-par 36. He was all set for a share of lead after hitting birdies on the 10th and 12th holes, but the last hole saw the RNGC pro drop a shot that pushed him to the second position.

Deepak Neupane of the Himalayan Golf Club and Mani Rai of Nirvana Country Club shared the third position with the scores of one-over 73s, while Rajan Thapa of RNGC and Yelamber Singh Adhikari — who turned pro from this event — were tied for fifth at two-over 74s. Another amateur, Sumandra Giri of Gokarna shot three-over 75 to stay overall seventh and second amongst the amateurs.

Pros Surya Sharma, Sanjay Lama and Dhana Thapa — who all carded four-over 76s — shared the eighth position along with amateur golfer Ramesh Adhikari. Deepak Acharya carded six-ove 78, while Army Club’s teaching pro Radhe Shyam Thapa shot seven-over 79. Of the 35 golfers — 23 pros and 12 amateurs — three amateurs will not be able to continue in the second round. While Dinesh Prajapati was disqualified for playing a wrong ball, Surya Dulal and Anil Tamang were forced out after crossing the limit of 28-over 100.

The cut will be applied after the second round and 20 plus ties in the professional and four in amateur sections will make it to the final two rounds of the sixth event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2009-10 organised by Nepal PGA under the sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd. Of the total cash prize of Rs 350,000, the top three pros will get Rs 72,000, Rs 46,000 and Rs 36,000 respectively.