England’s Mark Foster and Maarten Lafeber of the Netherlands were the early leaders as the Avantha Masters began in New Delhi.
The pair reached five under par at DLF Golf and Country Club after 15 and 12 holes respectively to be one ahead of Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti.
The day started with a three-and-a-half hour fog delay, but once the action got underway Lafeber eagerly set about the task of trying to record his first European Tour win for eight years with a hole in one at the par three 11th.
His ace took him clear at the top on six under and won him a Volvo XC 60, but he dropped a shot at the next.
Foster has also not landed a European Tour title since 2003, and the 35 year old banished memories of last year’s missed cut at this venue with his flying start.
On a tightly packed leaderboard, Australia’s Scott Hend, India’s Rashid Khan, Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, Thailand’s Pariya Junhasavasdikul, Antonio Lascuna of The Philippines and Swede Rikard Karlberg had all reached three under.
Foster took three shots to find the green at the par four seventh – his 16th – and dropped a shot to fall back to four under but bounced back with a 20 footer for birdie at the par three next.
