Jakarta [Indonesia], October 2 : Veteran Rahil Gangjee is the best-placed Indian player in the field on a rain-affected opening day of the Jakarta International Championship at the Damai Indah Golf PIK Course.
The 47-year-old, a two-time Asian Tour champion, carded birdies on nine, 13, 14 and 16 for a blemish-free four-under 66, three off the clubhouse lead, as per a release from LIV Golf.
Gaganjeet Bhullar is on the same score but could only complete 16 holes before darkness fell. The Olympian, a serial winner in Indonesia, started with eagle on the 545-yard par-five first, and was four under through four after two further early birdies. But after picking up another on 11, he dropped a shot on the par-three 15th shortly before play ended for the day.
Khalin Joshi and Viraj Madappa are both in the clubhouse on two under.
Suteepat Prateeptienchai of Thailand leads on 63 after a superb seven-under round, with Wade Ormsby of Australia, Roberto Lebrija of Mexico and Chang Wei-lun of Chinese Taipei a shot further back after carding 64s.
Poor weather in the morning stopped play for an hour and 20 minutes, resulting in 45 players needing to finish their first round early on Friday morning before round two gets underway.
The tournament is the fifth of nine elevated events on the Asian Tour calendar that form a pathway onto the LIV Golf League through the season-long rankings race.