Army Club pro Dhana Thapa, RNGC pro Ramesh Nagarkoti and Toran Bahadur Shahi are tied for the second position after submitting cards of one-under 66 by the end of the first day.[break]
Dharan pro Mani Rai completed the day´s 18 holes at even-par 67 to remain in the fifth position of the tournament, the 10th event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2011-12 and organized by Nepal Professional Golfers Association under the sponsorship of its president Rabindra Man Shrestha.
Yalamber Adhikari, Ramesh Adhikari, Umesh Nagarkoti and Ram Thapa are tied for the sixth position as they all carded one-over 68 on Monday. Deepak Neupane, who ended the first day with a score of two-over 69, occupies the 10th position on the leaderboard.
RNGC pro Shiva Ram Shrestha took a turn with a score of two-under 31 on the front nine and completed the back nine with two-under 32. The money leader of the current season of Surya Nepal Golf Tour hit consecutive birdies on the fourth and fifth holes but suffered a bogey on the seventh.
Another birdie on the eighth hole helped him maintain two-under score on the front nine. Defending champion Shrestha hit an eagle on the 10th hole and scored birdies on the 13th and 16th holes. He suffered bogeys on the 12th and 15th holes.
Dhana Thapa completed the front nine with two-under 31 and the back nine with one-over 35, while Ramesh Nagarkoti took a turn with one-under 32 and completed the back nine with even-par 34.
Toran Bahadur Shahi, who shares the second position with Thapa and Nagarkoti, was superb on the front nine with a score of four-under 29 but played terrible on the back nine as he completed it with three-over 37. He scored birdies on the second, sixth, seventh and eighth holes on the front nine but a triple-bogey on the 17th hole dropped him.
In the Amateur section, Ashish Pariyar and Wangchen Dhondup both played five-over 72 to share the lead, while Gorkha Lama and Bikash Bogati are joint third with six-over 73.
The tournament, which features 24 professional and 21 amateur golfers, carries a total purse of Rs 200,000 and the winner will get Rs 44,000.
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