Nicolas Colsaerts produced a brilliant birdie blitz to bounce back from a disappointing start and share the lead alongside Marcus Kinhult and Marcus Armitage after the first round of the 2025 Hero Indian Open.
The 42-year-old Belgian, who starred for Europe at the 2012 Ryder Cup, gave himself a mountain to climb after carding two early bogeys on Thursday but fought back with five birdies in his last 11 holes to sign for a 68 and reach four under par at the tricky DLF Golf and Country Club.
Fellow early starter Kinhult flew out of the blocks, making three birdies in his first four holes before carding two more birdies and one bogey.
Armitage briefly overtook the early co-leaders in the afternoon as a birdie at the 17th took him to five under but he closed his round with a bogey to make it a three-way tie at the top.
Home favourite Ajeetesh Sandhu was among the large group in a tie for fourth on three under.
Colsaerts, who has three DP World Tour victories to his name, said: "It went great today. It's a difficult golf course and anyone who will shoot under-par today is going to be extremely happy.
"The rough is high this year, the greens are firmer and it's a little bit like a mini U.S. Open. It's a really hard course.
"The 18th hole is a really nice finishing hole and 16 visually is an amazing par three, there's a couple of great holes on the front.
"I don't think 17 is going to be of everyone's taste because you don't really see anything, it's big elevation but I think all in all it's a golf course that if you play good golf you're going to enjoy playing.
"I would like to stay as patient as I was today and keep understanding that the pars are good, if you make a few birdies it's great, everybody's going to make bogeys and I’m going to try to keep the ball in play as much as possible."
Swede Kinhult said: "I got off to a great start with three birdies in the first four holes. Then it was a bit scrappy around the turn.
"I hit some bad shots but scrambled well. I made that bogey on seven, which was a pretty good bogey. I was happy with that one and then just played well towards the end. I gave myself some chances and overall I’m happy with the 68."
Armitage impressed with the putter on day one, making a total of seven birdies and producing a sensational par save on the eighth after finding the water there.
He said: "I really like the golf course, it's different, you've got to play some great golf to shoot a good score and I putted fantastic today so it's really cool to get some success around here.
"I just kept patient out there because it can wind you up, this golf course, you can get frustrated pretty quick. I just dug in and I'm really pleased with it."
