Jairam Shrestha took the lead with a 4-under 64 on Tuesday at the Surya Nepal Kathmandu Open. He beat Vishnuprasad Sharma and Neeraj Tamang by one stroke.
Vishnu and Neeraj finished second with 3 under 65 in the tournament of Surya Nepal Golf Tour season at Royal Nepal Golf Club. Amateur number one golfer Sadbhav Acharya finished fourth with a 2-under 66. With a score of even-par 68, veteran pro Deepak Magar and Pradeep Kumar Lama are fifth. Ramesh Adhikari and Dinesh Prajapati scored 1 over 69. They finished seventh.
With a score of 2 over 70, 6 golfers Rame Magar, Krishnaman Rajabahak, Ravi Khadka, Vasantraj Gurung and amateur duo Gyan Bahadur Dhenga and Rahul BK are joint ninth.
Pro Jayaram of the home club finished both the front nine and back nine at 2 under 32 while getting a bogey free score card. He birdied the fourth, eighth, tenth and 12th holes.
Bishnu finished the front nine at 2 under 32 after saving one shot each in the first and seventh holes. Two birdies on the 12th and 13th holes against a bogey on the 11th hole finished the back nine at 1-under 33.
Defending champion Neeraj hit a bogey on the second hole but birdies on the fourth and fifth holes made the front nine 1 under 33.
Amateur golfer Sadbhav didn't get off to a good start. Although he birdied the first and fourth holes, he wasted one shot each in the third, fifth, sixth and ninth holes. Completed the front nine in 2 over 36. But he made an excellent comeback in the back nine.
33 professional and 12 amateur golfers are participating in the four-day tournament of 72 holes. The winner will receive a prize of Rs 150,000, second runner-up Rs 85,000 and third runner-up Rs 68,000.
