Sunit Chowrasia shares lead at DP World PGTI NexGen Varanasi

Sunit Chowrasia, Mukeem Ali and Dipankar Kaushal carded three-under 67s to share the first-round lead at the inaugural Rs 25 lakh DP World PGTI NexGen – Varanasi. Only 11 players finished the day at even-par or better

Hyderabad: The 31-year-old Sunit Chowrasia of Kolkata, Mukeem Ali of Mathura and Dipankar Kaushal of Noida carded matching rounds of three-under 67 to share the first-round lead at the inaugural Rs 25 lakh DP World PGTI NexGen – Varanasi being played at the BLW Greens Golf Course.

Sunit, the current DP World PGTI NexGen Order of Merit leader, arrived in Varanasi on the back of consecutive victories at the Alpha Sports Academy Golf Championship hosted by Patna Golf Club in March and the Vijay Kumar Memorial in Lucknow last week.

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The Kolkata golfer mixed seven birdies with two bogeys and a double bogey on the par-4 10th to join the lead at three-under 67.

Reflecting on his round, Sunit said, “It feels good to be in a share of the lead. I started well, but the double bogey on the 10th checked my momentum a little. After that, I stayed patient, focused on my game plan and managed to recover well.”

Mukeem Ali, who started from the par-4 fifth hole in the shotgun format, also posted a three-under 67 to grab a share of the lead. The Mathura golfer carded five birdies against two bogeys, with a decisive run of three consecutive birdies from the 16th through the 18th helping him climb to the top of the leaderboard.

Dipankar Kaushal, whose home course is Noida Golf Course, started from the par-3 eighth and produced a round featuring an eagle on the par-5 18th, four birdies, one bogey and a double bogey on the par-4 12th.

Delhi’s Pawan Verma and Gurugram’s Nikhil Sharma shared fourth place at two-under 68.

Kolkata’s Pratim Kumar and Souvik Nayak, along with local favourite Hemant Yadav of Varanasi, were a further shot back in tied sixth place at one-under 69.

Scoring proved challenging for much of the field, with only 11 of the 72 players managing rounds of even-par 70 or better on the opening day.

Imamul Haq, the other Varanasi-based professional in the field, shot a 73 to be tied for 26th.

The winner of this year’s NexGen Order of Merit will earn an exemption on the main tour (DP World PGTI) for the 2027 season.