Ranjit Singh takes day 1 honours

Lanky Ranjit Singh, the 25-year-old professional from the Chandigarh Golf Club, took the first day's honours with a three-under card of 69 in the first round of the Royal Challenge Grand Prix golf in Noida on Wednesday.

Ranjit's card was one of the only six sub-par scores.

Seasoned Mukesh Kumar, who holds the course record with an eight-under 64, registered at the Noida Open recently, had a bogey-free two-under 70, as did Shiv Prakash, a veteran on the tour.

Young Jaiveer Virk, still looking for his maiden professional title brought in a one-under 71, despite three putts, as did Vijay Kumar and Jyoti Randhawa.

Vijay Kumar missed more than a few short putts, but still came in with a 71. The third player at one-under 71 was Jyoti Randhawa, who, not only missed a few small putts but struck a horrible patch between the 11th and 16th holes, when he dropped four shots and ended with a less-than-satisfying 71.

"I could have been five or six under,"' said Ranjit Singh after going through 28 putts and he had 15 greens in regulation.

Mukesh Kumar was impressive despite a 70 -- which is a bit of a climbdown from his lofty standards. As usual his putting was exemplary as he had just 23 putts and no bogeys. His two birdies came on the second and eighth.

The cut will be applied after the second round on Thursday. The top 50 and ties will make the money rounds for Friday and Saturday.

Leading scores of round 1:
69: Ranjit Singh
70: Shiv Prakash and Mukesh Kumar
71: Jaiveer Virk, Vijay Kumar and Jyoti Randhawa
72: Mohd. Islam, Ali Sher, Rohtas Singh and Uttam Singh Mundy.