Port Louis (Mauritius), April 9 Teen sensation Veer Ganapathy, who recently turned 18, achieved two birdies in the last three holes to score a 5-under 67 and take the lead in the first round of the AM Green IGPL Invitational 2026 Mauritius golf tournament hosted by Leander Paes.
Sachin Baisoya, who had consistently finished in the top 3 in 2025 but without a win, produced a brilliant finish after a relatively slow start. He closed with three birdies in a bogey-free round of 67, joining Ganapathy for a shared lead.
Baisoya also helped his team, Phoenix Hyderabad, take the lead in the team competition.
Amandeep Drall (69), Milind Soni (69), and Ridhima Dilawari (69) were tied for third place.
Amandeep Drall, a former runner-up at the Hero Women's Indian Open on the Ladies European Tour, and Ridhima are trying to emulate Pranavi Urs, who last year won an AM Green IGPL event. Pranavi won the Mumbai event last year.
Olympian Udayan Mane and experienced Shiv Kapur were tied for sixth, with rounds of 2-under 70 each, while Aryan Roopa Anand, Varun Chopra, rookie Sukhman Singh, and Yashas Chandra were tied for eighth with scores of 71 each.
Among the notable names, Pukhraj Singh Gill (72), who topped the 2025 AM Green IGPL Order of Merit, was T-12, while Gaganjeet Bhullar, winner of the AM Green IGPL Invitational 2026 Chandigarh 2026, Karandeep Kochhar, SSP Chawrasia, and Aman Raj were T-15 with scores of 1-over 71 each.
In team standings, Phoenix Hyderabad, led by co-leader Baisoya (5-under 67) and Raghav Chugh (even par 72), were leading with a score of 5-under, while RVR Delhi, with Shiv Kapur (2-under 70) and Aryan Roopa Anand (1-under 71), were second with a score of 3-under.
Green Fuels Vizag, with Milind Soni (3-under 69) and M Dharma (1-over 73), were third with a score of 2-under. The two best scores from each of the four member teams count towards the competition.
The tournament is the second in the AM Green IGPL season 2, which will have 15 events, ten of which will be in India and five outside India.