Bhuwan Nagarkoti opened up four-stroke lead in the first round of the Surya Nepal Challenge at the par-68 Royal Nepal Golf Club on Monday.

Nagarkoti carded five-under 63, four strokes better than Yelamber Singh Adhikari, Deepak Magar and Dhana Bahadur Thapa who all ended the first day at one-under 67. Rabi Khadka and Surya Prasad Sharma were tied for fifth at one-over 69. Kamal Tamang, Krishna Man Rajbahak, Ramesh Nagarkoti and amateur Phuntshok N Lama shared the seventh spot at two-over 70.

Top-ranked Shivaram Shrestha and second ranked Sanjay Lama made a poor start to the third event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2017-18. Both Shrestha and Lama carded three-over 71 and were tied at 11th place with Bhuwan Kumar Rokka and Rame Magar.

Gokarna Golf Club pro Nagarkoti sank a birdie on the first hole before adding more shots on the third, fourth, sixth and ninth hole.. His first nine card of four-under 30 included just one bogey on the fifth. Nagarkoti carded one-under 33 on his way back with a birdie on the 10th hole.

Adhikari shot three-under 33 on the first nine hole with birdies on fourth, seventh and ninth holes. On the back nine, he shot two-over 36 with drop shots on the 12th and 15th holes. Magar carded even-par 34 on the front nine with birdies on sixth and eighth holes against bogeys on second and ninth. On the back nine, Magar made birdies on 17th and 18th holes against a bogey on 12th for one-under 33 card. Thapa shot one-under 33 on the front nine with birdies on sixth and eighth against a bogey on the third hole. On his way back, Thapa carded even-par 34 with a birdie on 13th and a bogey on the 18th.

Tanka Bahadur Karki was two strokes behind leaders Phuntshok in the amateur category with four-over 72. Further two stokes behind Karki were Mithun Rai and Subash Ghising.

In all, 40 golfers—30 pros and 10 amateurs—are taking part in the four-day tournament organised by Nepal Professional Golfers Association. Cut will be applied after the second round with top 21 pros and six amateurs making it to the final two rounds. Of the total cash prize of Rs 420,000, the top three pros will receive Rs 80,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively.