Hua Hin (Thailand), Mar 3 (PTI) India's promising young stars Viraj Madappa and Karandeep Kochhar shot flawless 7-under 65 each to be at Tied-seventh on the opening day of the USD 1.5 million International Series Thailand here on Thursday.

A good number of other Indians were also off to a strong start.

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Gaganjeet Bhullar, playing his first event of the year, Rashid Khan, fresh from a Top-10 last week, Honey Baisoya and Aman Raj had fine starts with rounds of 5-under 67 each to be T-24th on a low scoring day.

Khalin Joshi and Ajeetesh Sandhu added to the cheer with 4-under 68 each and were T-37th.

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American Sihwan Kim broke the course record, shooting a 10-under-par 62. Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai also dismantled the course's defences with a 63 while his countryman Itthipat Buranatanyarat and Ryou Hisatsune from Japan shot 64s.

Among other Indians, S Chikkarangappa (70) was T-83, Shiv Kapur (71) was T-96, SSP Chawrasia, Udayan Mane and Aadil Bedi were T-110 with 72 each. Veer Ahlawat (74) and Rahil Gangjee (76) were further down.

Kochhar, who won his previous start on the domestic Indian PGTI Tour, began on the 10th and had five birdies on the back nine and then added two more on the front side. Madappa, also starting on 10th, had four birdies on his first nine holes and three more on the second nine.

Bhullar looked in good nick, coming back after a long time. In between, he was down with COVID-19 and also spent a lot of time with his five month-old daughter. He said he also worked a lot on his game after the recovery.

A one-minute silence was observed for former Asian Tour number one and chairman Kyi Hla Han who died recently. The moment of reflection took place at 2.13pm, as his birthday was February 13. In honour of the legendary Myanmar golfer, players are wearing green ribbons – which was one of the colours in his official logo.

Sihwan Kim has been in brilliant form since the Asian Tour restarted at the end of last year and been in the final pairing on Sunday in three events, including last week's Royal's Cup although victory has so far eluded him.

The 33-year-old Sihwan was joint fourth in Blue Canyon Phuket Championship, fourth in SMBC Singapore Open and tied for second last week. His front nine of eight-under-par 28 matched the lowest score over nine holes on the Asian Tour. He made eight birdies and two bogeys.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)