Lahiri and Joshi, two of the 16 Indians in the field this week, were two shots behind the leader, American John Catlin (66). Catlin shared the first round clubhouse lead with Sungho Lee of Korea.
Things however did not pan well for Shubhankar Sharma who was four-over through 14 holes with two doubles and two other bogeys. He did have two birdies. Sharma, however, has ensured that he will take home the Asian Tour Order of Merit at the end of the week, for he has an unassailable lead.
Lightning around the Royale Jakarta Golf Club led to the suspension of play close to 4pm (local time) before officials decided to call off the action for round one about an hour later.
As many as 62 players including defending champion Justin Rose of England will resume their first round on Friday morning. Rose is at five-under through 14 holes.
Among other Indians, M Dharma shit 69 and was tied 22nd, while Arjun Atwal was two-under through 12 holes. SSP Chawrasia, S Chikkarangappa and Shiv Kapur carded one-under and tied 46th, while Rahil Gangjee, Jeev Milkha Singh (17 holes) and Viraj Madappa (16 holes) were all even par and tied 72nd.
Honey Baisoya, Udayan Mane and Ajeetesh Sandhu were all one-over and tied 96th. Aman Raj (12 holes) was two-over and Shubhankar Sharma (14 holes) was four over.
Playing alongside Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and Lahiri, Catlin showed the form that led him to three Asian Tour wins this season when he marked his card with seven birdies and one bogey to set the early pace at the Asian Tour’s season-ending event.
Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Lee, with only his tied 14th finish in Chinese Taipei as his best result on the Asian Tour this year, is determined to put up a strong showing to end his year on a high at the USD 750,000 event.
Philippines’ Angelo Que returned to familiar surroundings in the best of form after playing in Japan for a large part of this year. Apart from a bogey-five on 16, the three-time Asian Tour winner showed his commanding form by signing for a 67 to stay one shot back of Catlin and Lee.
Like Que, tournament drawcard Stenson also posted a 67 to put himself in contention in his tournament debut.
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