Chandigarh, March 11 Shat Mishra, who only turned professional in 2025, shot a six-under 66 to gain a two-stroke lead after the first round of the IGPL Invitational Chandigarh.
Mishra had a relatively quiet season in 2025 and finished in the middle of the pack in the Tour standings. He had a strong start to the tournament, but his performance cooled down somewhat in the second round.
Mishra made five birdies on the front nine, before making mistakes on the 10th and 11th holes. He then made four more birdies, including an eagle on the Par-5 16th hole, and also made birdies on the 13th and 17th holes.
Mishra held a two-stroke lead over three other players: Gaganjeet Bhullar, Yashas Chandra, and Kartik Sharma.
A group of five players, including last year's No. 2, Aman Raj, seasoned Chiragh Kumar, Indian-American Manav Shah, young IGPL recruit Danish Verma, and local Chandigarh man, Ranjit Singh, were all tied for second place at three-under 69.
The fact that the players had been working hard on their games was evident, as six others were also tied for 10th place at two-under 70.
The six-player group included last year's IGPL No. 1, Pukhraj Singh Gill, who had recovered from an injury; in-form Karandeep Kochhar; Kapil Kumar, the IGPL Pune winner; Syed Saqib Ahmed; young Krish Chawla; and the legendary SSP Chawrasia, who had won six times on the Asian Tour.
Bhullar, the defending champion at IGPL Chandigarh, had a bogey-free four-under 68 and was tied with Yashas Chandra and Gurugram southpaw Kartik Sharma.
Kochhar had two birdies and a few missed putts, but managed to avoid any bogeys. He made birdies on the Par-5 12th and 13th holes, and parred the rest.
Yashas had been steadily improving his game since late 2025. He showed that he had been practicing hard, as he made four birdies in the first five holes. He made his only bogey on the Par-5 seventh hole. On the back nine, he made one birdie and eight pars.
After an early birdie on the second hole, Chawrasia, a two-time Indian Open winner, made mistakes on the third and sixth holes, but made three consecutive birdies from the 12th to the 14th holes.