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Vijay Kumar, Rafiq Ali share lead

Vijay Kumar of Lucknow spoilt what could have been a family affair on top of the leaderboard the opening day of the Rs 2.8 million Honda-Siel PGA Golf championship, when he shot a six-under 66 to share the lead with Rafiq Ali on the opening day of the biggest event on the Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour, which began at the par-72, 6,870-yard Delhi Golf Club today.

Vijay, playing in afternoon group, joined Rafiq on top, while Rafiq's nephew, Raju Ali, was in third place at five-under 67. In tied fourth place at three-under 69 were three Delhi pros - Monish Bindra, Arjun Singh and Ali Sher. Defending champion Uttam Singh Mundy (Calcutta) and Vishal Singh (Jaipur) were tied for the seventh place at two-under 70.

Vijay, normally known for his accurate hitting, owed it to his putter today as he completed a bogey-free round in 25 putts and needed just single putts on the last six holes. He made just one birdie on the front nine - the5th -and then made birdies on the 11th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th. On the 15th, he almost holed a 20-footer from off the green but the ball stopped just a couple of rolls short.

On the 18th fairway and then hit a pitching wedge to 6 feet.

Rafiq, who almost won this title last year before making a triple bogey on the 69th and a bogey on the 70th hole while leading the tournament, was in stupendous hitting from as he fired eight birdies. All his birdies came after teeing up with the three-wood and except a 10-footer putt on the 16th hole, all his birdie putts were between 2-8 feet range. Both the bogies came on par-3 holes. On the 5th, he went into the right bunker and missed his up-and-down and on the 7th, he missed his chip-putt from the left edge of the green.

Apart from making eight birdies, he also missed two from three feet on the 2nd and the 11th holes.

Raju Ali, son of Rafiq's sister, improved his previous best round of two-under by three strokes. He started with a birdie on the 10th after holding a 10-footer following a 3-wood and a 6-iron. He then added two more from three and two feet on the 14th and 15th. On the 18th, sank a 12-footer after three-putting for a bogey on 9-iron approach shot, but missed a three-footer for par on the very next hole for his second bogey of the day. On the 6th, he sank a six-footer after hitting a 7-iron second shot from the fairway bunker and then had a gimme birdie from 4 inche with a chip from the edge on the 8th.

Defending champion Uttam Singh mundy made a good comeback after being two-over at the turn. On his back nine, Mundy made four birdies to finish two-under 70 for the day.

1998 Wills Indian Open champion Feroz Ali was four-over at the turn, but came back to finish level-par for the day. Pre-tournament favourite Gaurav Ghei lipped out on five occasions and finished two-over 74.

Scores (after 18 holes) : 66 - Vijay Kumar, Rafiq Ali, 67 - Raju Ali, 69 - Arjun Singh, Ali Sher, Monish Bindra , 70 - Uttam Singh Mundy, Vishal Singh, 71 - Minky Barbora, Shiv Prakash, Sanjay Kumar, 72 - Amit Dube, Digvijay Singh.

Amatuers: 73 - Ashok Kumar, 76 - Shiv Kapur, Saurabh Bahuguna, Suleiman Ali.

UNI