Forso (Denmark), Sept 2 (Golf News) Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma carded a three-under 68 to lie T-47th after the opening round of Made in Himmerland on the European Tour here.

Sharma, who had a superb start of five-under through his first nine, which was the back nine of Himmerland Course, however, gave away some of those gains on the second nine, as he had three bogeys in a row from second to fourth.

A birdie on the fifth then soothed things for Sharma, who is 33rd on the Race to Dubai standings.

Also giving his early gains was Indian-American Aman Gupta, who had three birdies and an eagle on his first six holes on the back nine. After that he had six bogeys against two birdies on Par-5 fifth and eighth. He ended at 1-under and finished the day in T-81st.

At the top, there was a lot of cheer for home fans on the opening day. A lot of local players moved into contention, with rising home-grown stars Rasmus Højgaard and Marcus Helligkilde leading the charge just one shot back from Ross McGowan's first round lead.

Englishman McGowan finished with a flourish late in the day with an eagle on the eighth, his penultimate hole, followed by a closing birdie at the ninth to storm into the early lead on nine under par 62.

But the story of the day was five Danish stars placed within three strokes of the leader.

Højgaard came agonisingly close to joining McGowan at the top as his lengthy birdie putt on the 18th came within inches of dropping, but an eight-under 63 left in a share of second place.

The second place was shared by compatriot Helligkilde, Scot Ewen Ferguson, England's Matt Southgate and Justin Walters of South Africa.

Four-time DP World Tour winner Søren Kjelden was a shot further back on seven under, while Niklas Nørgaard Møller and Lucas Bjerregaard were among the bunch of players tied for 13th position on six under. 

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News Source : PTI