Bhuwan Nagarkoti and Dhana Bahadur Thapa carded three-under 65s to share the first round lead in the Surya Nepal Challenge at the par-68 Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) on Tuesday.

Jayaram Shrestha was one stroke adrift of the leaders with two-under 66 in the second event held under Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2016-17. Ram Krishna Shrestha and Sanjay Lama were tied for fourth at one-under 67. Top seed Shivaram Shrestha shot even-par 68 to stay at sixth, while Rame Magar and Pradeep Kumar Lama shared the seventh place at one-over 69. Deepak Magar, Chuda Bahadur Bhandari and Pashupati Sharma were in a group of three sharing ninth position at two-over 70.

Nagarkoti shot one-under 33 on the front nine to go with two-under 32 on the back nine. The Gokarna Golf Club pro sank birdies on the first and second hole against a bogey on the third in his first nine, while his back nine card included birdies on the 10th, 13th and 18th against a lone birdie on the 11th.

The Army Club pro Dhana carded two-under 32 in his first nine and one-under 33 in the second nine holes. Dhana carded birdies on the first two holes before sinking an eagle on the fourth but dropped two shots on the seventh. On his was back, Dhana earned shots on 13th and 16th holes against a bogey on the 18th.

Jayaram carded three-over 37 on the front nine but made a remarkable recovery in the back nine five-under 29. Jayaram had a double bogey on the fourth to add to another dropped shot on the eighth hole. He then sank birdies on the 10th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th hole to close out his first round at two-under 66.

Ram Krishna carded one-over 35 on the front nine and two-under 32 on the back nine, while Sanjay closed out with two-under 32 in the first nine and one-over 35 in the second nine holes. Shivaram shot three-under 31 on the front nine but ruined his card with three-over 37 on the back nine.

Santosh Rokka leads the amateur category with a card of three-over 71. Mithun Rai was in second at 72. Shiva Kumar Majhi is third at 73 ahead of Phuntsok N Lama (75), Jiwan Rai (76) and Rohit Acharya (76). In all, 29 pros and 11 amateur golfers are in fray for the title in the four-day event. Cut will be applied after 36 holes with top 21 top pros and top six amateurs making it to the final two rounds.

The tournament offers the champion with Rs 75,000 and the runner up Rs 46,000. The third-placed pro will also earn Rs 31,500. Other pros who make the cut for the final two rounds are also assured of their share of cash prizes.