It was a disappointing day for India’s ace golfers at the Shinhan Donghae Open as they failed to create impact on Day 1. While Rahil Gangjee (71) being the best-placed at tied-38^th, others failed to make their mark.

 

Gangjee (71), at even par, was way behind the two leaders -- Kyungnam Kang and Junsung Kim -- who fired matching six- under-par 65s to share the first round lead.

 

                             

                                 Singh won his first professional tournament at the Shinhan Donghae Open in 1994

 

Defending champion Gaganjeet Bhullar had two bogeys and two birdies till he had double on the 18th for a two-over 73 and was tied 79th, the same as Jeev Milkha Singh, who won his pro title in Korea back in 1994.

 

Shubhankar Sharma and S Chikkarangappa carded one-over 72 each to be tied-59th. Chiragh Kumar and Sujjan Singh shot 74 each and were tied-95^th.

 

Co-leader Kim had the honour of recording the tournament's first hole-in-one when he aced the par-three 12, while Kang fired seven birdies against a lone bogey to set the early pace at the KRW1.2 billion (approximately USD 1.06 million), co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Korean PGA.

 

The Korean duo hold a two-shot advantage over a quartet of players that include Korean-American Chan Kim, France's Lionel Weber as well as compatriots Younghan Song and Seungtaek Lee.