The early morning winter rain left the course wet and the championship committee gave the option of preferred lie to the players. Still, such were the conditions that not even a single player managed to break par. With level-par 72 cards, Mukesh and Simarjeet led the pro and the amateur categories, while veteran Rohtas Singh followed Mukesh with a one-over 73 card.

In joint third place were Chandigarh's KPS Sekhon and Lucknow's Bhoop Singh, while Jyoti Randhawa was in joint fifth place along with Kanpur's Shiv Prakash and Faridabad's Md Yamin at three-over 75.

Mukesh, whose best finish this season has been second in the Surya Nepal Open, started from the tenth, was one-over at the turn with the bogies on the 11th and 16th holes where he missed his chip-putt after missing the green on both occasions. His sole birdie on the front nine came 15th, where he unleashed a three-wood off the tee, and then followed it up with a sandwedge approach shot to set up a four feet birdie putt.

On the 18th (his ninth), Mukesh was unlucky as he was penalised one stroke for taking a wrong drop. However, he still managed a par there, which gave him the required boost for the back nine. Birdies on the first and fifth holes were interspersed with a three-putt bogey on the third, which left him level-par 72 for the day.

Simarjeet Singh, one of the top eight amateurs as per the IGU merit list, scored the first hole-in-one of his career on the 200-yard third hole with a perfect four-iron shot, and then almost got his second one on the 170-yard tenth hole with a seven-iron tee shot which slipped out of the cup.

He made a birdie on the tenth, and then added another on the 15th. However, all his good work was undone by bogies on the second, and a hat-trick of bogies from the sixth onward.

Rohtas Singh, who has over 100 professional titles under his belt, began with a bogey on the relatively-easy first hole, but then regrouped to finish the front nine level-par, but later dropped a stroke on the tenth hole. Therefater, he played par throughout to finish one-over 73. Sekhon played steady golf on the front nine, making just one birdie on the second, but playing to par on all the other holes. He then three-putted the eleventh for a bogey and added two more to finish two-over 74. Bhoop Singh went one-over on each half of his journey for the same score.

Hero Honda Masters winner Jyoti Randhawa started from the tenth hole, but was four-over by the sixth hole, when he made bogies on the eleventh, 14th and a double bogey on the 15th hole from the bunker. However, birdies on the second and third pulled things back from him, before he added another bogey on the sixth hole.

In the amateurs' section, following Simarjeet at nine-over 81 was Lucknow's Sheeraz Kalra.