Mukesh Kumar, the number one player on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour, proved his class in his first appearance in an overseas Asian PGA Tour event when he shot a four-under 68 on the opening day of the $-200,000 London Myanmar Open.
According to information from Yangon Golf Club course in Yangon, Myanmar, Mukesh was just one stroke off the leaders, South Africa's James Kingston and Lin Keng-chi from Taiwan, who posted rounds of five-under par 67s.
Local hero Aung Win was tied for third place at four-under 68 along side Mukesh.
Several other players followed with 69s tie for fifth place, including India's Hero Honda Masters champion Harmeet Kahlon, last year's Myanmar Open winner, Thongchai Jaidee from Thailand, American Aaron Meeks, Canada's Rick Gibson and Chung Joon of Korea.
Among the other Indians, Arjun Singh was tied for the 10th place at two-under 70, while Feroz Ali was in joint 63rd place at three-over 75.
Vivek Bhandari, Uttam Singh Mundy and Daniel Chopra were tied-81st at four-over 76. Digvijay Singh shot a five-over 77 to be in 110th place, while Amandeep Johl had a forgettable round of six-over 78.
Kingston, who won this event in 2000 with a still-standing tournament record of 19-under-par, clearly enjoyed his return to the. He started in the cool of the early morning and finished off hot on the back nine where he netted four of his six birdies.
"I won here two years ago and it is a good chance for me this year," said Kingston, at 37 one of the more experienced players in the field. "It is not easy to say 'winning' at this moment as there are three rounds to go."
Lin, a regular on the Japan Tour, made a late afternoon run at Kingston's lead, finishing off strongly with five birdies on his final nine holes. He missed a six-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, which prevented him from topping the leader board.