Gary Player opened the proceedings with the ceremonial tee-off at The DGC Open. Soon, it was business as usual at the club's Lodhi course with the leaderboard packed with names of local hopefuls. The affable, ever-smiling Shankar Das shared the lead with Australian Travis Smyth on 5-under 67, with Veer Ahlawat a step behind.
A further stroke behind in fifth and tied positions were Ajeetesh Sandhu who had been there, done that, and Karandeep Kochhar looking for his big break.
