India's Gaganjeet Bhullar extended his recent fine form when he shared the opening round lead at the BNI Indonesian Masters on Thursday, as other hopefuls got off to a shaky start.
Bhullar produced a flawless round of six-under-par 66 to tie at the top alongside Gunn Charoenkul of Thailand and Masahiro Kawamura of Japan in the $750,000 Asian Tour event.
It comes after the Indian won the Korea Open last week, ending an Asian Tour drought following a serious wrist injury two years ago.
But other big names lagged behind, including India's Anirban Lahiri who shot a three-over-par 75, and Australia's Marcus Fraser who scored a three-under 69.
Bhullar, 28, who started from the 10th tee, overcame early nerves to make the turn in 32 at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club before adding birdies on seven and nine to stay in contention for back-to-back victories.
"It was a bogey free round and at the end of the day, that's the target. I'm trying to repeat what I did last week," said Bhullar, a six-time Asian Tour winner, according to an Asian Tour press release.
Gunn suffered a wrist injury in 2014 and is slowly finding his form again after winning on the local circuit in Thailand in July and in China in September.
Japan's Kawamura, who has one win on the Asian Tour, recovered from an opening bogey to fire seven birdies including one on the last to take his place among the leaders.
Scores after round one of the BNI Indonesian Masters (par 72):
66 - Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Gunn Charoenkul (THA), Masahiro Kawamura (JPN)
67 - Arjun Atwal (IND), Phachara Khongwatmai(THA), Suradit Yongcharoenchai (THA)
68 - Lu Wei-chih (TPE), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Namchok Tantipokhakul (THA), Darren Tan (AUS), Janne Kaske (FIN), Shiv Kapur (IND), Kalem Richardson (AUS), Chinnarat Phadungsil (THA), Lionel Weber (FRA)
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