Golfer Bhullar holds joint lead at Macau Open

Macau, Oct 19: Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar carded a flawless seven-under 64 to share the opening-round lead with South Koreans Yikeun Chang and Giwhan Kim at the Macau Open here on Thursday.

Bhullar, a former winner of the tournament in 2012, posted seven birdies while Kim was equally impressive at the Macau Golf and Country Club.

"It was a good round overall. I hit the ball really good. I just kept on giving myself birdie opportunities and the game went accordingly to my plan. The putter went a bit cold on my back nine. I didn't hole any birdie putts coming in but I gave myself a lot of good looks," Bhullar said in an Asian Tour release.

Another in-form Indian player, Ajeetesh Sandhu, signalled his strong intentions of winning a third straight title when he signed for a 66 to trail by two shots in fourth place with Thailand's Danthai Boonma at the $500,000 Asian Tour event. 

Chinese Taipei's Hung Chien-yao, Filipino ace Angelo Que and Wolmer Murillo of Venezuela, who just won his maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) title last week, are three shots off the pace in tied-sixth position. 

Defending champion Pavit Tangkamolprasert of Thailand battled to a 72 to tie in 47th place while reigning Order of Merit champion Scott Hend of Australia came in a further shot back in tied-65th position at the Macau Open, which is celebrating its 19th edition this week.

India's S. Chikka and Shubhankar Sharma were tied at the 13th spot with a 69 apiece.

Chiragh Kumar, Rashid Khan, Jyoti Randhawa and Khalin Joshi scored 70 each to be tied at the 25th position.