Tapendra Ghai led the pack, although by a solitary stroke, at the end of the opening round of the Tata Steel Southern India junior golf championship at the testing par-72 KGA course in Bengaluru.
Tapendra shot a level par 72 ahead of the second placed trio of Viraj Madappa, Manu Gandas and Prakhar Asawa.
Piyush Sangwan was fifth at 74 while the quartet of Jairaj Singh Sandhu, Feroz Singh Garewal, Varun Parikh and Arjun Malik were tied for sixth at 75.
Jaiveer Singh emerged as the leader in Category B with a 77 while K. Sidharth and Arjun Prasad shared second place on 78. Arjun Puri was fourth at 80 while Karandeep Kochar was fifth just a stroke behind.
Tapendra made a good start with a series of pars while saving a stroke on the par-3 fourth. However a bogey on the par-4 seventh, the toughest hole on the course nullified the effort as he finished his front nine with a par.
He had a similar start on his back nine where he saved pars while making a birdie on the par-4 14th. A bogey on the finishing hole was unfortunately a sad end to his round.