Chandigarh, March 11 (IANS) Shat Mishra, who turned professional only in 2025, got his 2026 campaign off to a flying start with a leading 6-under 66 in the first round of the 2026 IGPL Invitational Chandigarh.

Mishra, who had a modest season in 2025 and finished in the middle of the pack in the Tour standings, had a blazing front nine before cooling off somewhat on the second nine.

Mishra birdied five times on the front nine, before dropping shots on the 10th and the 11th. He again picked four shots including a stunning eagle on the Par-5 16th and birdies on the 13th and the 17th.

Mishra held a two-shot lead over the three others, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Yashas Chandra and Kartik Sharma, while a big bunch including last year’s No. 2 Aman Raj, seasoned Chiragh Kumar, Indian-American Manav Shah, fresh young IGPL recruit Danish Verma and local Chandigarh man, Ranjit Singh were in a group of five players at 3-under 69.

That the off season has seen the players work at their game was evident as six others were Tied-10 at 2-under 70.

The six-pack included last year’s IGPL No. 1 Pukhraj Singh Gill, who is recovery from an injury, in-form Karandeep Kochhar, Kapil Kumar, the IGPL Pune winner, Syed Saqib Ahmed, young Krish Chawla and the six-time winner on the Asian Tour, the legendary SSP Chawrasia.

Bhullar, the defending champion at IGPL Chandigarh, had a bogey free 4-under 68 and was in a tie with Yashas Chandra and Gurugram southpaw Kartik Sharma.

Mishra was delighted with his round. “All the work I have put in showed. The front nine was great, the putts fell well but on the back nine I gave a lot of shots. A short, missed putt, a plugged lie, and a few other short misses but the consolation was the eagle on the 16th. Overall, I think the game is coming around and I must stay consistent,” said the young golfer.

Bhullar, who plans to divide his time between the International Series, the Asian Tour and the IGPL, was happy with the day’s work, though he also revealed that he was off to the putting green. “I need to work a bit on that,” he said with a smile.

Kochhar, who will also be playing on the Asian Tour and the IGPL, had two birdies and a few missed putts, but did well to keep bogeys off his card. He birdied the Par-5s on the second and the 13th and parred the rest.

Yashas has been steadily finding his rhythm and form since late 2025. He showed the off-season was busy with practice sessions, as he blazed with four birdies in the first five holes. He dropped his only shot of the day on the Par-5 seventh holes. On the back nine, he had one birdie and eight pars.

After an early birdie on the second Chawrasia, a two-time Indian Open winner, dropped shots on the third and the sixth, but birdied three in a row from the 12th to the 14th.

“There was some rust and I think I cleared some of it,” said Chawrasia, who will be playing a fair bit on the Asian Tour and the IGPL like many others in this field.”

–IANS

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