Lucknow, Sep 9 : Umed Kumar from Chandimandir, Haryana, set the pace with a three-under 67 to be the leader after round one of the seventh event of the PGTI NEXGEN season being played at the Lucknow Golf Club.

Local lad Sanjeev Kumar of Lucknow returned a two-under 68 to be placed second.

The Lucknow Golf Club is a par-70 nine-hole course where the nine holes are played twice to comprise a round. On a number of holes, there are different tees used and there are different hole locations for the front-nine and back-nine.

Umed Kumar, a winner on the PGTI NEXGEN this season, came up with an error-free round on Tuesday. He made pars over the first 12 holes, including a great save from the bunker on the 12th.

The 24-year-old Umed's round took off with his precise tee shot on the par-3 13th that left him a four-footer for birdie. Thereafter, he made a couple of tricky putts from a range of six to 10 feet for birdies on the 16th and 18th.

Umed, currently placed eighth in the PGTI NEXGEN Order of Merit, said, 'It was all about my chipping today. My chipping got me out of trouble every time, as I missed a lot of greens today. I kept landing my chip shots within a couple of feet of the flag.

'I'm carrying a lot of confidence from my recent performances as I finished fourth at last week's NEXGEN event and also posted a top-10 on the PGTI's main tour a couple of weeks back. I'm feeding off this confidence and will look to capitalize on it in the next two rounds.'

Local favourite Sanjeev Kumar produced six birdies and four bogeys during his round of 68.

/IANS