Kolkata’s Shankar Das, Nagpur’s Moinuddin Malak and Delhi’s Honey Baisoya were tied second with matching scores of four-under-68 at the Rs. 40 lakh event, being played at the Kensville Golf & Country Club here.
Dwivedi knocked in six birdies at the expense of a solitary bogey.
Playing only his second season as a professional, the 25 -year-old had a steady start as he made pars on the first seven holes before coming up with his first birdie on the eighth after landing it close.
Dwivedi, who has two top-10s to his credit in the 2017 PGTI season, picked up the pace on the back-nine. He birdied the 10th and followed that up with three more birdies in a row from the 13th to the 15th.
He dropped his first shot of the day on the 17th but more than made up for it with a spectacular birdie conversion from 20 feet on the 18th, which gave him the sole lead.
Dwivedi, who has claimed three top-10 results since turning professional last year, said, “I started off solid, hitting greens but missing putts. But once I got my first birdie and was in red figures, I knew had the momentum.
“The key was the back to back pars on the first seven holes. Generally, when I miss birdies I tend to get frustrated and drop shots. Today, I just stayed calm and let the first birdie come without dropping a shot.”
Malak was off to a dream start, making birdies on his first two holes – the 10th and 11th. Malak, who just missed two greens in the round, made the turn at a strong three- under.
Returning from a six-month break due to a back injury, he had a rock-solid front-nine with a birdie and eight pars.
Das produced an eagle and five birdies against three bogeys during his opening round.
Baisoya was four-under through 17 holes before his birdie putt from 10 feet lipped out on the 18th. He thus missed out on the joint lead and had to settle for a share of second place.
Noida golfers Amardip Sinh Malik and Arjun Singh Chaudhri were tied for fifth at three-under-69.
Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi was in tied seventh at two- under-70, while PGTI Order of Merit leader Shamim Khan of Delhi occupied tied 19th place at even-par-72
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