Dubai, Oct 23 (PTI) Rakshit Dahiya raised hopes of a fine first day for India at the 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Championship before ending at even par 72 for a tied 20th place here on Thursday.
Dahiya, the only one of the five Indians to have played the AAC previously, hauled himself up into the Top-10 with three birdies between he second and fifth and another one on 10th. At that stage he was 3-under through 10 holes as he went past the turn.
Then came a run of four bogeys in five holes on the back nine, which pulled him back and was over par, before closing the day with a birdie on the 18th.
Dahiya at 72 was tied 20th, and so was reigning All India Amateur champion Anshul Mishra, who went out in 2-over and then rallied with two birdies on the back nine to finish with a creditable even par round.
Raghav Gulati, who plays most of his golf in Dubai, carded 1-over 73 which included one birdie against two bogeys. He was tied 31st.
Ranveer Mitroo (74) at T43rd and Harman Sachdeva (77) at T84th were further down the leaderboard.
Thailand's Fifa Laopakdee, Australia's Billy Dowling and Vietnam's Khanh Hung Le carded matching six-under 66s to share the early lead.
There were 19 rounds under par during the first round at the renowned Majlis Course, the first grass course that opened in the Middle East and home to champions such as Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Laopakdee, a junior at Arizona State University, is making his fourth appearance at the Asia-Pacific Amateur with a high finish of T-5 in his home country in 2022.
After entering the championship as the highest-ranked player in the field in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the 20-year-old birdied six of his first nine holes beginning on the par-4 10th.
Sam Mullane (T-4) and Ahmad Skaik (T-8) lead the hometown contingent of players from the United Arab Emirates. Last year's runner-up Ziqin Zhou of China sits even par (T-20).
A 36-hole cut will be made to the top 60 and ties after Friday's second round.
Indian scores: T-20: 72 Anshul Mishra (72) and Rakshit Dahiya (72) T-31: Raghav Gulati (73) T-43: Ranveer Mitroo (74) T-84: Harman Sachdeva (79).
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
