Amateur golfer Tenzing Tsering took a four-stroke lead over pros Bhuwan Nagarkoti and Sanjay Lama in the first round of the Surya Nepal Central Open golf tournament on Monday.

Tsering carded six-under 66 on the first day of the fourth event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2016-17. Nagarkoti and Lama shot an identical two-under 70 at the par-72 Gokarna Golf Club. Rabi Khadka was next in fourth at one-under 71. Top-ranked Nepali pro Shivaram Shrestha and Bal Bhadra Rai were tied for the fifth at one-over 73. Deepak Acharya was seventh at two-over 74.

Another amateur golfer Tanka Bahadur Karki was in a tie for eighth place with pros Rajendra Shrestha Pradhan, Jayaram Shrestha and Dhana Bahadur Thapa at three-over 75. Chuda Bahadur Bhandari and Surya Prasad Sharma were joint 12th at four-over 76 along with amateur Mithun Rai.

Tsering carded three-under 33 on both the halves. On the front nine, he sank eagles on the third and seventh holes and dropped a shot on the fourth. On his way back, Tsering sank birdies on the 11th, 12th and 15th holes. Nagarkoti and Lama shot two-under 34 on the front nine and closed out with even-par 36 on the back nine. 

Nagarkoti sank birdies on the second, third and seventh holes against a bogey on the sixth. In his back nine holes, he sank birdies on the 10th and 12th and had a double bogey on the 14th. Lama earned shots on the first, third and fifth holes against a bogey on the fourth. He sank birdies on the 11th and 13th against bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes. Shivaram Shrestha carded two-over 38 on the front nine and one-under 35 on the back nine.

In all 33 professional and 15 amateur golfers are taking part in the tournament that offers Rs 600,000 in cash prizes. The champion will earn Rs 110,000, runner-up will get Rs 70,000 and the third-place golfer will receive Rs 45,000.