NEW DELHI - Oct. 7, 2004 - On a day that witnessed low scores, nearly one-third of the field broke par even as the duo of Uttam Singh Mundy and Shamim Khan led the pack at seven-under 65 in round one of the HT Pro Golf 2004 being played in Gurgaon, near New Delhi.

The event, which forms the fifth leg of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour, is being played at the par-72 Classic Golf Resort. One stroke behind the leaders, at six-under 66, was winner of two events on the southern swing of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour - Ashok Kumar, along with Vinod Kumar.

Uttam Singh Mundy, one of the most debonair golfers on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour first shot into the limelight when he won the Honda Siel PGA Championship in 1996. Uttam repeated the feat two years later beating none other than Jyoti Randhawa on the second playoff hole at the Army Golf Course. He has since returned impressive performances on the Tour but has failed to make full use of his immense potential.

Uttam looked to reversing the trend as he rediscovered his golden touch to card an impressive 65. The bearded Kolkatan, a tenth tee starter, wasted little time in setting the tone for his round as he birdied the tenth and eleventh holes. He then repeated this performance on the fifteenth and eighteenth to stand at four-under at the turn. With back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes and one on the ninth, Uttam closed his grip on to a clubhouse lead. While Uttam’s opening round looked flawless, it could have been much better. The 38-year old missed as many as six birdie putts that needed eight feet and less to fall in. “I played solid golf today, missing only one green in regulation on the thirteenth hole”, said the joint leader who returned 28 putts for the round.

However it was the person who shares the lead with him – Shamim Khan – who created magic on the greens as his putting tally at the end of the round stood at an incredible 22 putts. How well he used his putter can be gauged by the fact that he made only eleven greens in regulation and still managed a seven-under for the day. This tenth tee starter recorded consecutive birdies on the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes. After making the turn, he returned a hat-trick of birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth with the last two resulting from brilliant 20-feet long putts. Shamim’s best finish on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour this season is a tied-ninth finish at the Hindu Open.

Meanwhile Ashok Kumar who is playing some hot golf this season also recorded eight birdies but faltered on the fourth hole, where he carded a bogey, to lie just one stroke behind the joint leaders. Asian Gold Medalist Shiv Kapur who has already recorded one win on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour by claiming the Amby Valley-MGC Open title also stayed into contention as he ended at the day at four-under 68.

Amateurs: Among the amateurs Shaurya Singh led the field with an impressive four-under 68.

Scores (after 18 holes): 65_Shamim Khan, US Mundy; 66_Ashok Kumar, Vinod Kumar; 67_Rahul Ganapathy, Yusuf Ali, Digvijay Singh ; 68_Shiv Kapur, Vivek Bhandari, Mohd. Islam, Rajiv Datar ; 69_Amit Dube, Vikramjit Singh, gaurav Dewan, Feroze Ali