Coimbatore: Defending champion Shiv Prakash, in-form Mukesh Kumar and seasoned Feroz Ali returned with a card of four-under 68 each to share the honours on the inaugural day of the three-day Cotton City Golf open-2002, which began on Wednesday.

Kolkata lad Rahil Gangjee was in the fourth position with two-under 68, while Mohammed Salim (Kolkata) and Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow were joint fifth spot, in the Rs 8.5 lakh tournament.

Exuberating confidence after the back-to-back victories in Chennai, Mukesh displayed some aggressive golf, but sunk five birdies to return a card of four under.

Teeing off from the 10th, Mukesh's first birdie came on the difficult par-5, 555 yard 13th hole, where a new tee box and water hazard near the green had been added.

Cutting across to the adjacent 17th fairway on his tee shot, Mukesh's second shot landed about 13 feet to the right of the green from where he missed a chip putt but managed to birdie.

However, he lost concentration on the 17th, where he three-putted to go over and missed a two-feet par putt on the second hole. The 1998 Indian open champion, Feroz scored over Mukesh on the 13th hole, sinking an eagle.

Diving through the gap of protruding branch of a tree, the Kolkatta professional followed a similar pattern as Mukesh, but was more accurate while landing the second shot, which pitched about 25 feet from the flag.

From there it was an easy eagle-putt for him, who had three birdies on 9th, 15th and 18th hole, but missed an eight-feet par-putt on the Par-3 fourth hole for his only bogie of the day.

PTI