Kathmandu, November 27

Bhuwan Nagarkoti opened the Surya Nepal Challenge campaign with a four-stroke lead over three players here at the par-68 Royal Nepal Golf Club today.

The Gokarna Golf Club pro carded five-under 63 to remain at the top of the leaderboard in the third event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2017-18. Three pros — Yelamber Singh Adhikari, Deepak Magar and Dhana Bahadur Thapa — were tied for second at one-under 67, while Rabi Khadka and Surya Prasad Sharma shared the fifth position at 69.

Nagarkoti carded five birdies in the front nine to take the turn at four-under 30, while he shot one-under 33 on the latter half. He made a bright start with a birdie and went on to add two straight on the third and fourth along with sixth and ninth holes. The only blemish for Nagarkoti came on the fifth where he dropped a shot. On the back nine, Nagarkoti carded a birdie on the 10th and saved pars on remaining eight holes.

Adhikari carded three-under 33 on the front nine with the help of birdies on the fourth, seventh and ninth holes. After taking the turn, Adhikari faltered with bogeys on the 12th and 15th holes.

Veteran pro Magar took the turn at even-par 34 that included birdies on the sixth and eighth holes against bogeys on the second and nine. He then dropped a shot on the 12th before signing off in style with back-to-back birdies on the final two holes. Thapa faced a bogey on the third before carding birdies on the sixth and eighth holes to take the turn at one-under 33, while he carded a birdie on the 13th and faced a bogey on the final hole.

Three pros, Kamal Tamang, Krishna Man Rajbahak and Ramesh Nagarkoti shared the seventh position at two-over 70 along with amateur golfer Phuntshok N Lama.  Top pro and the winner of the first two events, Shivaram Shrestha and No 2 pro Sanjay Lama did not fare well as they began the campaign with matching cards of three-over 71 to share the 11th position along with Bhuwan Kumar Rokka and Rame Magar.

In amateur section, national team member Tanka Bahadur Karki was second at four-over 72, while Mithun Rai and Subash Ghising shared the third position at six-over 74.

In all 40 players — 30 pros and 10 amateurs — are taking part in the event organised by Nepal PGA under the sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd. The event carries a cash purse of Rs 420,000 with top three pros receiving Rs 80,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively.