Chandigarh, Aug. 6 -- The second half of the season kicked off with an exciting start at the PGTI Coal India Open-2025, as city golfers Karandeep Kochhar and Angad Cheema both finished the opening round with a joint lead of 3-under-69. They are tied at the top alongside Amardeep Malik and Anshul, who also posted scores of 3-under-69 in the first round. Karandeep Kochhar, who returned from the Asian Tour, played a steady game. He made a birdie on the first hole but dropped a shot with a bogey on the third. After playing par on holes 4 to 8, he regained his momentum with a birdie on the 9th hole. His back nine saw an improvement, as he made birdies on the 14th and 17th holes to finish with a score of 3-under-69. Angad Cheema, on the other hand, struggled initially with 9 pars on the front nine, but made a strong comeback in the second half of his round. He made birdies on the 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th, and 17th holes. However, a double bogey on the 18th hole held him back, leaving him tied at the top with Kochhar, Malik, and Anshul at 3-under-69. Amardeep Malik's round was marked by five birdies and two bogeys, while Anshul had four birdies and one bogey, both sharing the top spot with 3-under par scores. Yuvraj Sandhu was not far behind, finishing the first round with a score of 2-under-70, which put him in a joint-2 position, one stroke behind the leaders. Sandhu started with a par and suffered a bogey on the third hole but bounced back with a birdie on the 9th hole. His back nine was strong, with two birdies on the 14th and 15th holes, bringing his total score to 2-under. Ravi Kumar, Om Prakash Chauhan, and Manoj S are also tied with Sandhu at the joint-2 spot. Abhinav Lohan, in good form, finished the round with a score of 1-under-71, sharing joint-9th place with eight other golfers. Italian Federico and Sri Lanka's Prabhagaran Tangaraja also secured spots in the top-10. Among the amateur golfers, Rakshit Dahiya made a notable appearance, finishing in the top-20 with a score of even-par 72. He shares the joint-18th position with Mukesh Kumar, Rohan Dhole Patia, and Pasim Khan. Chandimandir's Chandrajeet Yadav carded 1-over-73, placing him in a joint-22nd position. He shares this position with 10 other golfers, including Brijesh Kumar and Pukhraj Singh Gill. Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta, who had a mixed round with 1 bogey and 1 birdie on each half, finished with a score of 2-over-74, placing him in a joint-32nd position. The cut-off for the first round has been set at 2-over-74, and a total of 10 golfers, including those tied with Chandrajeet Yadav....